London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) (202202905)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202202905

London & Quadrant Housing Trust

31 August 2023

Our approach

The Housing Ombudsman’s approach to investigating and determining complaints is to decide what is fair in all the circumstances of the case. This is set out in the Housing Act 1996 and the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme). The Ombudsman considers the evidence and looks to see if there has been any ‘maladministration’, for example whether the landlord has failed to keep to the law, followed proper procedure, followed good practice or behaved in a reasonable and competent manner.

Both the resident and the landlord have submitted information to the Ombudsman and this has been carefully considered. Their accounts of what has happened are summarised below. This report is not an exhaustive description of all the events that have occurred in relation to this case, but an outline of the key issues as a background to the investigation’s findings.

The complaint

1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of a repair to the resident’s heating and hot water system.
2. The Ombudsman also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

3. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord, living in a two-bedroom, second-floor flat with her two children aged 10 and 5. The resident has been diagnosed with mental health conditions, including depression, and one of her children has been diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism.
4. The resident has reported issues related to a communal boiler in the block since January 2021. This included several extended periods where her flat was without heating and hot water. This complaint was also raised alongside others relating to a faulty door and rat infestation, which are outside the scope of this investigation as they were addressed during a separate investigation by this service.
5. The resident raised a complaint with the landlord in September 2021, in which she stated the ongoing situation with the boiler was impacting her mental health and her children’s physical health and wellbeing.
6. The landlord’s stage 1 response acknowledged that the resident had been left without adequate heating and hot water for 122 days and offered £344 compensation. The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 of the landlord’s complaint procedure seeking additional compensation for the distress and inconvenience of being without heating and hot water for these extended periods.
7. The landlord’s stage 2 complaint response did not uphold the complaint and reiterated that the compensation offered was calculated correctly and in line with the landlord’s policies. The resident remained dissatisfied and escalated her complaint to the Ombudsman.

Assessment and findings

Heating and hot water

8. It is not disputed that the resident was without heating and hot water for multiple periods, as the landlord offered compensation for this in its stage 1 complaint response. The landlord calculated that the resident had been without heating and hot water for 122 days, during the following periods:
   1. 29 November 21 – 21 January 2022
   2. 16 October 21 – 4 November 2021
   3. 4 October 2021 – 26 October 2021
9. It should be noted that due to an overlap of dates in October and a miscalculation on the landlord’s part, these periods equate to 84 days without heating and hot water.
10. The landlord’s repair records also show 6 other reports of a loss of heating and hot water were also made throughout 2021 in January, February, April, May and June 2021. These periods were not included in the landlord’s calculation above, nor was any compensation paid for these periods in the landlord’s complaint response.
11. The landlord’s repairs policy and the tenancy terms and conditions both confirm that the landlord is responsible for all fixtures and fittings for water, gas electricity, space and water heating in the property. This is also a legal requirement under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.
12. Section 9A and 10 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 also set out the criteria in which a home may be classed as ‘unfit for human habitation’. This can include ‘prescribed hazards’ which include hygrothermal conditions, such as a property not being sufficiently warm. Additionally, any property must have sufficient facilities for hygiene, sanitation, and water supply, including the means for residents to wash themselves and their clothing.
13. The resident’s tenancy agreement shows that a total or partial loss of water or space heating between 1 November and 30 April each year would be treated as an emergency or urgent repair. Furthermore, the landlord’s repair policy highlights that it will consider escalating priority in cases where households have vulnerable residents.
14. The landlord’s compensation guidance sets out tariffs of compensation that it will consider awarding depending on the type of failing and its severity. This includes:
    1. A £10 fixed award for a service failure.
    2. Payments for inconvenience of £20 to £60
    3. Payments for distress of £20 to £60
    4. Payments for time and effort of £50 to £200
    5. Refunding a 25-50% proportion of rent for any period in which the resident is unable to use a room within the property.
15. For the periods it identified, the landlord awarded the resident £334 compensation which was comprised of:
    1. £10 as a fixed payment award for service failure
    2. £244 calculated as £2 per day for the 122 days the resident was without heating and hot water
    3. £60 for the inconvenience
    4. £30 for the distress of the situation
16. During the periods without heating and hot water, the landlord did not offer alternative heat sources, such as electric heaters, nor did it offer to decant the resident and her children into alternative accommodation.
17. In correspondence with this service, the resident stated that her children had repeated chest infections due to the cold and that she was diagnosed with depression as a result of pursuing this complaint over an extended period. Whilst this service does not have the expertise to comment on the causes of these conditions, these factors should have been considered by the landlord when it responded in this case and there is no evidence that it did this.
18. Furthermore, the resident stated that on one occasion, her children went to school unbathed due to a lack of hot water and this resulted in a safeguarding referral being made. She said this was because the school were concerned for the children’s welfare. Not only did this cause additional distress to the resident and her children, but it also resulted in her keeping them from attending school on other occasions in the future, when they had not been able to bathe, in fear that a further referral may be made.
19. At the time of this investigation, the issues have not been resolved and the resident is again without heating and hot water. As a result of this, the resident was spending periods staying with a relative to ensure that she and her children had access to hot water.
20. Overall, the resident and her family have been left without sufficient heating and hot water on at least 11 occasions, some of these periods spanning many weeks, and totalling at least 92 days. The landlord has continually failed to adequately consider the household’s vulnerabilities or put measures in place to mitigate the issues, which are likely to have rendered the property unfit for human habitation.
21. The landlord did not recognise several periods that the resident had been without heating and hot water in its complaint response, nor did it offer compensation for this. Given the serious and longstanding nature of these issues, including over the winter months, which remain unresolved at the time of this investigation, the Ombudsman considers this amounts to maladministration and the landlord’s £334 offer of compensation was insufficient.

Complaint handling

22. The landlord operates a two-stage formal complaint procedure. The landlord’s complaints policy states that responses will be issued to residents within 10 working days at stage one and within 20 working days at stage two.
23. The resident complained to the landlord on 27 September 2021, however, the landlord did not issue a response for over four months until 2 February 2022. This amounts to 79 working days over the landlord’s policy timescales. These were unreasonable delays which caused additional time, trouble and distress to the resident and delayed her being able to progress her concerns to the Ombudsman.
24. There has been no evidence presented to this service that the landlord apologised for or acknowledged these delays within its complaint responses, nor has the landlord applied a remedy for this, such as compensation. This amounts to maladministration. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident £250 compensation to reflect her time and trouble in pursuing this complaint in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance, which is available on our website.
25. Additionally, it was noted that the landlord’s stage one complaint response stated that its compensation matrix was “recognised by the Housing Ombudsman”. This is not factually accurate as the Ombudsman does not recognise or endorse any particular complaint-handling process or compensation matrix. Instead, the Ombudsman requires all registered members to comply with the principles within the Complaint Handling Code (the Code) and have due regard for our remedies guidance, both of which are available on our website. The landlord should remove this misleading statement from its documentation and policies to avoid confusion for future residents.
26. This is particularly important as the calculations used by the landlord in this complaint have been found to have been inaccurate in several aspects. Firstly, the calculation of the number of days the resident was without heating and hot water was not correct. Secondly, the landlord’s compensation policy allows for £2 per person, per day for a total loss of heating. The resident was offered compensation of £2 per day, despite also having two children in the house. The landlord will need to review its processes for managing compensation claims, to ensure that they are calculated correctly for any future residents.
27. Lastly, the Code also requires landlords to ensure that complaint responses are clear and provide key information such as the complaint stage, date and any actions to be taken. The landlord’s stage one response was not compliant with the Code as it did not address the resident’s complaint points, it did not state the complaint stage and the next actions were not clear. The landlord should review its process and documentation to ensure that future complaint responses meet the requirements set out in the Code.

Determination

28. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there has been:
    1. maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the heating and hot water system repairs; and
    2. maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

29. Within 28 days of this determination, the landlord must:
    1. Arrange for a senior member of staff to apologise to the resident in person.
    2. Pay the resident compensation as set out in paragraph 30 below.
    3. Arrange a full survey/inspection of the property and complete any outstanding works to the heating and hot water system (see paragraphs 31-33 for more information).
    4. Provide this Service with evidence of compliance with these orders.

The compensation payment

30. The landlord must pay the resident compensation based on:
    1. 100% of the rent for the 92 days within which the resident was without heating and hot water, which rendered the property unfit for human habitation and has caused the resident loss of amenity and enjoyment of her home during this period.
    2. Pay £1050 compensation, comprised of:
       1. £250 for the complaint handling failures
       2. £400 for the time and trouble of pursuing the complaint
       3. £400 for the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident and her children over a protracted period.

This compensation order replaces any previous offer made by the landlord.

The survey order

31. The purpose of the inspection/survey is to assess all outstanding repairs and to rectify the ongoing issues with the heating system. The report must set out:
    1. which repairs are required; and
    2. how long the repairs are likely to take to complete.
32. Once the survey is complete the landlord must share the survey with the resident and this service within 5 working days of receipt.
33. The landlord must use its best endeavours to ensure the repairs are completed within the timescales set out in the report. Whilst any repairs are ongoing, the landlord must arrange for alternative heating and hot water sources to be provided, and any additional costs to be met in full, or for the resident to be decanted to another suitable property for the duration of the works.

Recommendations

34. The landlord should:
    1. Review its processes for handling complaints to ensure that it can respond within the timescales found in its policy and the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.
    2. Review its compensation policy and processes for calculating compensation to ensure that the compensation offered in any future complaint is calculated correctly.
    3. Review its complaint and compensation document to ensure that:
       1. any references to its compensation matrix being ‘recognised by the Housing Ombudsman’ are removed; and
       2. all complaint responses are compliant with the Complaint Handling Code, by ensuring that complaint stages are clearly shown and that all complaint points are addressed in full within the response.