London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) (202234353)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202234353

London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q)

11 November 2024

 

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 response to the resident’s:
    1. Concerns about a carbon monoxide leak and a lack of hot water and heating in the property.
    2. Report that her property was left in an unacceptable condition following decoration works.
  2. The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord. The landlord is aware that the resident is vulnerable.
  2. On 25 February 2023 the resident reported that her carbon monoxide alarm was beeping. An engineer attended the same day, confirmed a gas leak, turned off the boiler, and provided temporary fan heaters. The resident was advised that an operative would attend on 27 February 2023 to repair the boiler, but no one arrived. The resident complained to the landlord about the missed appointment, emphasising her vulnerability and the lack of gas over the weekend.
  3. The landlord responded to the complaint on 10 March 2023, apologising for the mishandling of the job. Following the missed appointment, a heating contractor visited and deemed it necessary to install a new boiler. Before installation, an asbestos survey was required and scheduled for 13 March 2023. The landlord confirmed that the complaint would stay open until the work was completed.
  4. On 5 April 2023 the landlord offered the resident £418 in compensation: £160 for heating and hot water issues from 25 February to 5 April, £100 for distress and inconvenience and £158.40 for electricity reimbursement.
  5. The resident remained dissatisfied and escalated her complaint on 11 March 2023. She stated that the work had taken over 40 days (the boiler was installed on 12 April 2023)to complete and asked for £200 per day in compensation.
  6. On 9 August 2023 the landlord responded at stage 2 of the complaints process. The landlord confirmed that a backlog of complaints had resulted in its delayed response, recognised that the level of service did not meet its standards, and increased the compensation offer to £558.40. This revised amount included £50 for the delay in reviewing the complaint, an additional £20 for the distress and inconvenience caused, £20 for a missed appointment, and £50 for the time and effort involved.
  7. The resident requested an investigation into her complaint, stating that the landlord had put her life at risk and sought increased compensation.

Events after the completion of the landlord’s complaints process

  1. On 27 August 2023, the resident reported a second gas leak. Southern Gas Networks (SGN) responded to the call and confirmed that no gas leak was present. However, they noted that the resident’s carbon monoxide alarm was beeping intermittently and needed new batteries. The landlord has also stated that they made several attempts to install a new thermostatic radiator valve (TRV) and thermostat in the resident’s property but have been unsuccessful.
  2. On 9 January 2024, the landlord reassessed its stage 2 response in light of the recent events. It awarded an additional £48 for the lack of heating and hot water from 27 August to 14 September 2024 and another £150 for the distress and inconvenience caused following the stage 2 response. In total, the compensation offered amounted to £606.40.

Assessment and findings

Jurisdiction

  1. The resident complained to the landlord about the condition of her property after it had been decorated. She reported that furniture was left in the middle of the room, making it difficult for her to move it back. The resident raised this issue on 11 July 2023.
  2. On 29 August 2023 the landlord apologised to the resident and confirmed that the issue was under investigation. The landlord’s records indicate that two officers came to help move the furniture back for the resident, but they did not re-hang the pictures on the wall. There is no evidence that this complaint reached the end of the landlord’s complaint process.
  3. Paragraph 42.a. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states that the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which are made prior to having exhausted a member landlord’s complaints procedure. The evidence confirms that this aspect has not exhausted the landlord’s complaints procedure and, therefore, falls outside of the jurisdiction of this investigation. The resident can make another complaint to the landlord and refer to our Service if she is unsatisfied with the landlord’s final response.

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident reported a boiler issue that resulted in the release of carbon monoxide in her property. We understand the distress this situation caused and acknowledge her concerns about its impact on her health. While personal injury claims are best addressed by a court, we have assessed the landlord’s response to her reports. If the resident believes her health has been affected by the landlord’s actions or inaction, she may want to seek independent advice regarding pursuing a personal injury claim.

Legislation, policy, and tenancy agreement

  1. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires landlords to make repairs to installations such as boilers, pipes, and electrics and to carry out repairs within a reasonable amount of time once it has been notified of the problem.
  2. The terms of the tenancy agreement confirm that the landlord is obliged to keep the property’s heating and heating water installations in repair and proper working order.
  3. The landlord’s repairs policy confirms that it will attend emergency repairs, which include a loss of heating in cold weather, where no other form of heating is available within 24 hours. It recognises that vulnerable residents will need special consideration in certain circumstances.

Assessment

  1. On 25 February 2023 the resident reported that her carbon monoxide alarm was beeping. In response, the landlord raised a work order, and a contractor attended that day, in accordance with its repairs policy. The contractor identified a fault in the boiler and switched it off. Temporary heaters were provided to assist the resident. This prompt action helped mitigate any potential issues arising from the boiler fault and aimed to reduce the inconvenience caused to the resident.
  2. The landlord’s contractor delayed re-attending on 27 February 2023. The landlord explained that delay was due to the job being incorrectly entered into its system. It apologised for the mistake and committed to providing additional staff training to prevent similar issues arising. The landlord acknowledged that the situation had caused distress and inconvenience, particularly given the time of year and the resident’s vulnerabilities.
  3. Records show that an attempt to attend on 28 February 2023 was unsuccessful due to no access. Further delays occurred because the landlord was required to complete an asbestos survey before the new boiler could be installed. The survey was completed on 17 March 2023 following a failed attempt due to no access on 13 March 2023. The landlord’s decision to conduct the survey was appropriate. Therefore, the resulting 4-day delay was beyond its control.
  4. The landlord took steps to mitigate the inconvenience caused by providing the resident with temporary heaters during this time. However, the resident expressed concerns about the affordability of the electricity needed to operate the fan heaters. We would expect the landlord to reassure the resident and commit to addressing any additional expenses incurred from using them. Although the landlord did reimburse the resident for the extra electricity costs as part of the complaints process, it is unclear whether the resident was informed about this reimbursement at the time. As a result, she may have felt unable to afford adequate heating for her home.
  5. The landlord has not provided any evidence to show that it had confirmed that the resident had access to hot water or alternative shower facilities while her boiler was being replaced. This suggests that the resident may have been without hot water for 46 days, which is unacceptable.
  6. The resident expressed concern about living in a house with potential carbon monoxide gas exposure, feeling that the landlord disregarded the danger to her life. Evidence indicates that the landlord acted promptly after she reported gas leaks on two separate occasions by disconnecting the boiler to eliminate any risk of a carbon monoxide leak. However, considering the resident’s understandable anxiety regarding the situation, it would have been reasonable for the landlord to offer additional reassurance or to conduct tests to confirm that there were no harmful levels of carbon monoxide in her home, thereby alleviating her distress.
  7. While we understand that larger repairs like replacing a boiler can take time, and there were some delays outside of the landlord’s control in this case, overall it took too long for this work to be completed. In particular it is unclear why it took a further four weeks from the 17 March 2023 inspection to complete the boiler installation.
  8. In response to the complaint, the landlord recognised its failings in repairing the boiler and acknowledged the impact on the resident and offered an apology. Once the boiler installation was completed, the landlord compensated the resident with £558.40 to address the delays, distress and inconvenience. This was a reasonable attempt to resolve the situation for the resident.
  9. On 27 August 2023 the resident reported another gas leak. SGN was called to investigate and confirmed that there was no gas leak related to the resident’s boiler. The landlord showed a commitment to resolving the issues by offering an additional £48 in compensation for the period during which there was no hot water or heating, from 27 August 2023 to 14 September 2023. It also offered £150 for the distress and inconvenience caused during this time. It is encouraging to see that the landlord reassessed its compensation offer to address the additional distress and inconvenience.
  10. However, evidence indicates that the landlord did not learn from previous mistakes. It failed to consider the resident’s vulnerabilities and did not prioritise the investigation and/or repair, which took 18 days to complete. Furthermore, the landlord has not provided evidence that it checked whether the resident had access to hot water and heating while the boiler was out of service, which was unreasonable.
  11. Our investigation highlights the need for the landlord to reevaluate how it assesses vulnerabilities and adjusts its service delivery to ensure that repairs are prioritised accordingly. Consequently, while acknowledging the steps the landlord took to address the complaint and resolve the matter, we have determined that there was maladministration in relation to the landlord’s handling of the issue and orders have been made to put things right for the resident.
  12. We have considered the landlord’s compensation policy and our remedies guidance and consider an additional £250 proportionate to the impact of the failings.

Complaint handling

  1. The resident escalated her complaint on 11 April 2023, and a stage 2 response was provided on 9 August 2023. The landlord has acknowledged that their response was issued significantly later than the 20-working-day response time, which was caused by a backlog of complaints.
  2. We would expect to see communications and updates about the expected response date during this time, however, there is no evidence that this occurred. As a result, the resident spent time contacting our Service to obtain a reply. The lack of action to move the complaint forward demonstrates a disregard for her concerns and has caused unnecessary delays in resolving the complaint.
  3. It was appropriate for the landlord to acknowledge the time taken, the delays experienced, and the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident. Offering £50 in compensation was a reasonable gesture of recognition. However, given the 4-month delay in providing a stage 2 response and the subsequent delay in addressing a second report of a gas leak, this compensation amount is not proportionate with the impact of the landlord’s failings. As a result, we have found a service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling and have awarded an additional £50 better to reflect the impact of the delays in this process.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in relation to the resident’s concerns about a carbon monoxide leak and a lack of heating and hot water.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was a service failure in relation to the landlord’s complaint handling.
  3. In accordance with paragraph 42.a. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the complaint about the landlord’s response to the resident’s report that that her property was left in an unacceptable condition following decoration works is outside of jurisdiction.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Apologise to the resident for failings in this case.
    2. Pay the resident £906.40 compensation, comprising:
      1. £606.40 compensation as offered in its stage 2 review.
      2. £250 for the impact of failing to appropriately consider the resident’s vulnerabilities.
      3. £50 for the impact of the failings in the complaint handling.
      4. If £606.40 has already been paid, this should be deducted from the overall amount.
      5. If not already completed, install a new thermostatic radiator valve (TRV) and thermostat in the resident’s property.
  2. Within 6 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to review processes for how vulnerabilities are managed, which should include, as a minimum:
    1. A review of how repairs for vulnerable residents considered to be a priority are escalated to ensure that on a practical level, these are prioritised and completed by contractors in an expedited timeframe.
    2. If delays in essential work leave a vulnerable resident without services, what actions will be taken to minimise the impact. This should include ensuring access to heating and hot water through friends or family or considering temporary accommodation.