London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) (202214900)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202214900

London & Quadrant Housing Trust

29 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:
    1. The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of a loss of heating and hot water, including the level of compensation offered.
    2. The landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident is a tenant of the landlord of a 3-bedroom house and has terminal cancer. She has communicated via a representative throughout her case, and they are both referred to as ‘the resident’ in this report.
  2. On 21 December 2021, the resident reported a loss of heating and hot water from her property’s boiler to the landlord. The landlord’s contractor attended the next day, topped up the boiler water pressure, and said there were leaks that would require further work.
  3. Between February and April 2022, the resident made at least 5 further reports to the landlord of the loss of heating and hot water at the property while she was terminally ill, having to pay extra to unsuccessfully attempt to heat her property, and so living and sleeping in the living room wrapped in blankets. The resident advised that a contractor attended on 1 March 2022, and said that, given the age and condition of the boiler, it would be economically better to replace rather than to repair this. In the week of 21 March 2022, the landlord fitted a new boiler in the property, although the resident reported having no heating or hot water from the boiler on 26 March 2022, which it attended on 29 March 2022.
  4. On 2 April 2022, the resident again reported to the landlord that she had no heating or hot water. 2 same-day appointments were arranged by the landlord, however the contractor failed to attend. The resident stated that, despite the landlord recording that the repair was “completed” on 4 April 2022, the contractor attended on 5 April 2022, and only topped up the water pressure of the boiler, so that there continued to be no pressure in the system every day and a half, which she attributed to a leak in the property. The resident also emailed the landlord on 5 and 14 April 2022 to, respectively, express her extreme dissatisfaction and complain about its handling of the repairs and said that the boiler was still not fixed. The landlord therefore logged a stage 1 formal complaint for her on 15 April 2022.
  5. On 29 April 2022, the resident reported that the radiators were not warming the property adequately and that there was a leak in a pipe. The landlord’s contractor attended on 3 May 2022 and found a leak in the living room. Its records indicate there was hot water, but that the radiators both upstairs and downstairs were not working. The contractor delivered an oil-filled electric heater on 4 May 2022 to the resident as a temporary measure to heat the property. The resident then informed the landlord on 16 May 2022 that she had no option but to employ a private plumber to repair the issue because its contractor had not attempted to book an appointment to do so, but it declined to reimburse her.
  6. The landlord provided its stage 1 response on 22 June 2022. It offered the resident compensation of £478 towards her rent arrears. On 27 June 2022, the resident declined this because she felt that the level of compensation was not representative of everything that had gone on, or covered all of the period that she had experienced ongoing severe issues, and so she asked to escalate her complaint. The landlord issued its stage 2 final response on 8 August 2022. In summary, it said:
    1. The compensation offered in its stage 1 response for the resident’s ongoing boiler issue had been calculated incorrectly.
    2. Therefore a new offer of compensation was made to the resident that totalled £696, comprising of:
      1. £196 for no heating and no hot water for 49 days;
      2. £240 for distress and inconvenience at the rate of £40 per month for 6 months;
      3. £200 for time and effort; and
      4. £60 for 2 missed appointments
    3. It would arrange for £207.66 rent arrears to be deducted from the compensation amount, and for a cheque for the remainder of £488.34 to be paid to the resident upon her acceptance of the revised offer.
    4. It said that it will be using findings from this complaint to ensure that any failures in service that have occurred on this occasion do not happen again, and that it will work closely with its contractors to achieve this.
  7. The resident nevertheless then referred her complaint to the Ombudsman. She remained unhappy, as she felt the amount of compensation did not reflect the time, distress and inconvenience she experienced as a terminally ill person who had to keep her body at a certain temperature for her ongoing cancer treatment.
  8. The resident reported that, despite this, the landlord continued to miss appointments and failed to see the importance of resolving ongoing issues quickly due to her medical needs. She also said the landlord did not take into account additional costs incurred, namely the cost of electricity for the electric oil heater, leak damage to her floor and property, and the cost of a plumber that she had engaged privately to restore the heating. The resident added that she had experienced ongoing boiler and other repair issues at the property, including about asbestos, fencing, handrails and scaffolding, for over 5 years, with the boiler remaining unrepaired for months, and then filled up and left while the leak at the property remained undetected and kept getting bigger.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The Ombudsman acknowledges the resident’s comments that this has been a long-standing issue with the property’s boiler for over 5 years, with the resident previously reporting issues with the boiler between 2017 and 2020, which is very concerning, particularly in light of her terminal illness.
  2. However, this investigation will not be able to consider the landlord’s handling of the resident’s boiler problems further back than October 2021. This is because the Housing Ombudsman Scheme explains that the Ombudsman may not investigate a complaint which was not brought to the attention of the landlord as a formal complaint within a reasonable period, which would normally be within 6 months of the matters arising. The landlord accepted the resident’s stage 1 heating and hot water complaint made on 14 April 2022. As such, the scope of this investigation will consider the events in her case from October 2021 up until the end of its internal complaints procedure in August 2022.
  3. Additionally, it is noted that the resident has reported a number of other repair issues to the landlord including about asbestos, fencing, handrails and scaffolding, which are also of concern. In accordance with the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the Ombudsman nevertheless may not consider complaints which are made prior to having exhausted the landlord’s complaints procedure. As there is no evidence that a complaint from the resident about these other repair issues has exhausted the complaints procedure yet, these issues are not considered as part of this investigation.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of a loss of heating and hot water, including the level of compensation offered

  1. The landlord does not dispute that there were failings in its handling of this matter. Where there are admitted failings by a landlord, the Ombudsman’s role is to consider whether the landlord resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances and offered appropriate redress. In considering this, the Ombudsman assesses whether the landlord’s actions were in line with the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles:
    1. Be fair – treat people fairly and follow fair processes; 
    2. Put things right; and
    3. Learn from outcomes. 
  2. The Ombudsman must first consider whether a failing on the part of the landlord occurred, and if so, whether this led to any adverse effect or detriment to the resident. If it is found that a failing did lead to an adverse effect, the investigation will then consider whether the landlord has taken enough action to ‘put things right’ and ‘learn from outcomes’.
  3. As per section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and the landlord’s repairs policy, it is responsible for maintaining and keeping in repair the installations for water and space heating within the resident’s property. Where the landlord becomes aware of the need for repair, it should take appropriate steps to put things right and within a reasonable timeframe of 24 hours for emergencies. These are defined by the landlord’s compensation policy’s payments schedule for homeowners’ property defects as including no heating between 31 October and 1 May. Although its website states that non-emergency repairs will be attended at mutually convenient appointment times.
  4. Furthermore, where the landlord identifies a potential vulnerability, including chronic illness that may put a resident at risk in their home, which could be worsened by a delay in completing repairs, the landlord should, in accordance with its vulnerable residents policy, treat the repair with escalated priority for their health and safety.
  5. The resident advised the Ombudsman that she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and there is evidence the resident informed the landlord of this on 30 March 2022.
  6. The resident reported a loss of heating and hot water on 21 December 2021 and the landlord attended the property and carried out responsive repairs on the next day, but it responded to her reports of this cutting out on 21 February 2022 4 days later. In line with its emergency response timescale from its repairs policy, it should have responded to reports of a loss of heating or hot water within 24 hours, but it failed to do this on the latter occasion. The landlord also did not carry out the further work to the resident’s boiler that it originally ordered on 22 December 2021, which she chased on 8 February 2022, and it incorrectly told her she had an appointment for on 23 February 2022.
  7. Following its contractor attending on 1 March 2022, the landlord’s notes stated that the boiler required replacement and that, due to the boiler’s age, condition and list of required parts, it would be economically better to replace rather than to repair this. Subsequently, a new boiler was put in during the week of 21 March 2022. While it was appropriate for the landlord to fit a new boiler given the resident’s reports of the loss of her heating and hot water amenity, it is unclear why it took around 3 months after the resident began reporting this in December 2021 for the replacement to take place, as this timeframe was inadequate.
  8. Despite a new boiler, the resident continued to report that there was no heating nor hot water on 26 March and 2 April 2022. The landlord should have arranged an inspection within 24 hours and provided an interim solution if the issue could not be resolved, but it only attended the first incident on 29 March 2022. Although the landlord then arranged an appointment for the second incident on the same day, the resident advised no one attended on 2 or 3 April 2022.
  9. The resident subsequently had to chase the landlord a number of times for it to attend, and it promised that an engineer would attend on 4 April 2022. The resident nevertheless said no one attended on that date. This is contrary to the landlord’s repair logs that indicate a repair was “completed” on 4 April 2022. The landlord has acknowledged there were failings in terms of missed appointments, and so it was appropriate for the landlord to have offered compensation to the resident in respect of this. It also correctly said that it would the findings from her complaint, and work closely with its contractors, to ensure that any failures in its service that have occurred in her case did not happen again.
  10. The resident reported that an engineer attended on 5 April 2022 and only topped up the boiler’s water pressure. The resident has stated that, since then, there were intermittent faults with no pressure in the system every day and a half, suggesting a leak somewhere in the property. On 5 and 14 April 2022, the resident and landlord exchanged a number of messages regarding the boiler not being fixed. No job was raised by it in response to the resident’s messages, despite being an emergency repair, and the landlord having been made aware of her serious ill-health on 30 March 2022. This was a further failing on the part of the landlord.
  11. On 29 April 2022, the resident contacted the landlord again and reported that only half the property was being warmed by the radiators and that there was a leak from a pipe. The landlord’s repair logs indicate a repair was carried out on 3 May 2022. The landlord’s notes state that the hot water was “OK”, but that the upstairs and downstairs radiators were not adequately heating up.
  12. There is evidence that an oil-filled electric heater was delivered to the resident on 4 May 2022, as the heating was still not working. This was reasonable under the circumstances. However, it would have been expected for the landlord to have continued to make efforts to remedy any unresolved boiler repair issues.
  13. It is not clear from the landlord’s records as to what happened with its boiler repairs after 4 May 2022 and, in particular, on what date the resident’s heating and hot water were restored. It is therefore unclear how many days the resident was without heating and hot water, since the problem also seemed to be intermittent. This would understandably have caused her frustration and taken time and effort to chase. The failures in communication and the delays in attending the property to inspect the boiler and pipes, as well as missed appointments, had a significant impact on the seriously unwell resident, and severe distress and inconvenience would have been caused to her.
  14. The resident advised that she had independently arranged for a private plumber to carry out repair works to the heating system since the landlord’s contractors had not fixed the issue. The resident has provided her email to the landlord that suggested the private plumber completed the repair work on or before 16 May 2022. The resident explained to the landlord that she felt that she had no option but to have arranged the repair works herself, which she asked it to reimburse her for on that date but that it declined to do on 17 May 2022, and this must have been an extremely difficult situation for the resident to have been in.
  15. However, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that the landlord was made fully aware of the resident’s intention to privately commission a plumber to repair her boiler before she did so. As such, it was not necessarily unreasonable for the landlord to have declined to reimburse the resident for this cost at the time, without further evidence that she no option but to arrange the repair herself, however it would have been reasonably expected for the landlord to outline its view on this matter in its complaint responses, and it did not do so. 
  16. The frequency of reports of the same boiler issues suggests that either the landlord’s contractor failed to establish the root cause of the matter, or did not carry out the necessary actions to rectify the matter. Both parties agreed that the resident had no reliable heating and hot water for 49 days, with most those days falling in the colder months of the year.
  17. The resident’s boiler issues between at least 21 December 2021 and 16 May 2022 also mostly occurred during the landlord’s compensation policy’s payments schedule for homeowners’ property defects’ definition of no heating being an emergency repair between 31 October and 1 May, but were not resolved by it. This was not in line with its 24-hour emergency repair response service standards in its repairs policy. Additionally, given the resident’s serious ill-health, it would have been reasonable to treat the repair with escalated priority, however this did not happen.
  18. The resident has also stated that she experienced higher electricity bills due to using the electric oil heater supplied by the landlord. In line with its compensation policy, the landlord should consider reimbursing direct financial losses, such as out of pocket expenses, that have been incurred by the resident due to its service failures. From the evidence submitted, it is not clear if this has been addressed by it, and so a recommendation has been made for it to do so below.
  19. The resident has advised about damage to a hardwood floor she believes was caused by a leaking pipe and has sent pictures of the damage. While there appears to be damage to the floor, the Ombudsman cannot determine the cause or extent of the damage, liability for this, and the impact this would have on the resident’s use of the room, as we do not have the authority or expertise to do so.
  20. The landlord should nevertheless have advised the resident as to how to claim for the damaged floor on her and/or its insurance, if she advised it of this, however there is no evidence relating to this between October 2021 and August 2022. A recommendation has therefore been made below for it to do so.
  21. The landlord’s compensation policy says that it will pay compensation for loss of amenities in the home, such as heating or hot water, where there has been failure to complete repairs within agreed response times, and for failures to attend a booked appointments without good reason. The policy says that the landlord will pay, among other things, £20 for a missed appointment where at least 24 hours’ notice was not given. Therefore, it was not unreasonable for it to award the resident £60 compensation for the missed appointments that she experienced, which it recorded as being 2.
  22. The compensation policy also says the landlord will offer discretionary compensation as a goodwill gesture. It does not give details of the amounts it will pay in most circumstances, but its policy’s payments schedule for homeowners’ property defects states that it will pay £10 per day up to a maximum of £100 per defect for emergencies, such as no heating between 31 October and 1 May. Therefore, it was also not unreasonable that the landlord awarded the resident £196 compensation for her lack of heating and hot water for 49 days (£2 per day no hot water, £2 per day no heating).
  23. The landlord’s communication with the resident was nevertheless unsatisfactory. The resident had to spend time and effort chasing the landlord for updates and advising it of missed appointments. Therefore, there should be an additional element of compensation to recognise this, and so its award of £200 to her for this was in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance’s recommendation of over £100 compensation for such time, trouble and delays in getting matters resolved. This is additionally recommended for distress and inconvenience, so it accorded with the guidance that the landlord awarded the resident £240 compensation for this, at the rate of £40 per month for 6 months from December 2021 to May 2022.
  24. However, the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance also suggests that compensation should not be offset against arrears where it would not be fair to do so, and when the resident has incurred additional out of pocket expenses as a direct result of the landlord’s actions or inactions. There had been a significant failure that adversely affected the extremely vulnerable resident, who was regularly without heating and hot water during the winter for 6 months, when she additionally required this to keep her body at a certain temperature for her ongoing cancer treatment.
  25. The landlord nevertheless deducted £207.66 from the resident’s compensation for rent arrears, despite her reporting that she felt that she had no option but to pay to repair her boiler herself, and that its temporary electric oil heater and the damage to her floor from the leak that it had not repaired had caused her extra costs. This also occurred while it regularly failed to repair the resident’s heating and hot water system within its repairs policy’s emergency timescale, or to permanently resolve her boiler issues at all, and therefore it has been ordered below that the compensation should be increased by £154 to reflect its further failings, and include the deducted arrears.
  26. This is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance’s recommendation of compensation of up to £1,000 for failures that had a significant physical and emotional impact on the resident. It has also been recommended below to review its staff’s training needs regarding their application of its repairs, compensation and vulnerable residents policies, and our remedies guidance. This is to ensure that emergency responsive and ongoing repairs like the resident’s are promptly completed and fully remedied in every case.

The landlord’s complaint handling

  1. The landlord has a 2-stage complaints procedure. A stage 1 response will be issued within 10 working days of receipt of the complaint, defined as an expression of dissatisfaction about the standard of its service, actions, or lack of action affecting a resident. If the landlord cannot respond within 10 working days, it will notify the resident and issue the response within a further 10 working days. If the landlord is unable to resolve the complaint at stage 1, residents can request the escalation of their complaint.
  2. At stage 2, the complaint is reviewed by someone not previously involved in the complaint and the outcome should be issued within 20 working days of the request to escalate. If the landlord is unable to respond within the timescale, it will write to the resident to explain why and provide the response within a further 10 working days.
  3. The landlord logged a formal complaint on 15 April 2022 in response to the resident’s explicit request for this on 14 April 2022. Prior to that, on 5 April 2022, the resident had expressed her extreme dissatisfaction to the landlord about its lack of boiler and leak repairs. This should reasonably have been considered by the landlord to have been a stage 1 formal complaint by the resident, which it ought to have accepted earlier than 15 April 2022. This delayed the progress of the complaint by 7 working days, and would have caused frustration to the resident who had to make many further efforts to try to get the matter resolved.
  4. The resident reiterated on 14 April 2022 that she wished to make a formal complaint and the landlord acknowledged this the next day, which was a bank holiday. The member of staff stated that it was not standard practice to be working on a bank holiday. This was inappropriate. The Ombudsman considers the phrasing and tone of the acknowledgement email overlooked both the severity of the situation for the resident and the distress she felt. This would have caused frustration to the resident.
  5. The Ombudsman was also not provided sight with the formal stage 1 complaint response, so it is unclear how the landlord initially investigated the complaint. Based on the resident’s effective formal complaint on 5 April 2022, and the date of 22 June 2022 reported by the landlord to be the date of its stage 1 response, it took the landlord 61 working days to provide a stage 1 response. This is not in line with its complaints policy’s 10-working-day response timescale, and was a failure in service as it also did not notify her of the delay and issue the response within a further 10 working days, contrary to the policy.
  6. The landlord did not offer compensation specifically for these failings, and there is no evidence that it apologised for these failings to the resident. Apologising when things have gone wrong is an important part of effective complaints handling. It is often the first step to repairing a damaged relationship and, while apologising cannot change what has happened, it can help to restore trust. The landlord has therefore been ordered below to write to the resident to acknowledge, apologise to her for, and explain its failings in her case.
  7. Further, following the resident’s request to the landlord to escalate her complaint on 27 June 2022, its stage 2 response was delayed and issued outside its complaint policy’s stage 2 response timescale of 20 working days on 8 August 2022, which was 30 working days later, without notifying her of the delay as required by the policy. In this response, the landlord stated that, if the resident did not get in touch by 12 August 2022, then it would close its file without compensation. This approach was unacceptable, as this was an unreasonable time frame for a resident to respond within.
  8. When a landlord makes an offer of compensation, the resident should be given adequate time to consider the offer and provide their response. This was a further failing in the landlord’s complaint handling, as its approach was heavy handed and dismissive.
  9. In summary, the above matters, in conjunction with the delays in progressing the complaint through its internal complaints procedure, amount to failings in the landlord’s complaint handling, which it has been ordered below to pay the resident £150 further compensation for. This is in accordance with the Ombudsman’s above remedies guidance’s recommendations, and the landlord has also been recommended below to review its staff’s training needs in relation to their application of its complaint policy and our complaint handling code. This is in order to prevent its poor complaint handling in the resident’s case from occurring again in the future.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of a loss of heating and hot water, including the level of compensation offered.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders and recommendations

  1. The landlord is ordered to:
    1. Write to the resident within 4 weeks to acknowledge, apologise to her for, and explain its failings in her case, as identified by this report.
    2. Pay the resident the £696 compensation offered in its stage 2 response within 4 weeks, without any deductions, if it has not done so already.
    3. Pay the resident a further £304 compensation within 4 weeks, which is broken down into:
      1. £154 for its further failings in handling her loss of heating, hot water, and compensation;
      2. £150 for the failings identified in its complaints handling.
  2. It is recommended that the landlord:
    1. Contact the resident to provide her with details to enable her to submit a liability claim to it or its insurers for the damages that she reported experiencing to her flooring and property from its lack of leak repairs.
    2. Contact the resident to request evidence of, consider paying towards, and respond to her reported extra costs from her increased electricity bills and her private plumber’s invoice, from its lack of heating and hot water repairs. 
    3. Review its staff’s training needs regarding their application of its repairs, compensation and vulnerable residents policies, and the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance, to ensure that emergency responsive and ongoing repairs like the resident’s are promptly completed and fully remedied in every case.
    4. Review its staff’s training needs in relation to their application of its complaint policy and the Ombudsman’s complaint handling code, in order to prevent its poor complaint handling in the resident’s case from occurring again in the future.
  3. The landlord shall contact the Ombudsman within 4 weeks to confirm that it has complied with the above orders, and whether it will follow the above recommendations.