Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (202128435)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202128435

Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing

27 April 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

The complaint is about:
1. The landlord’s handling of repairs to a faulty boiler.
2. This Service has also considered the complaint handling.

Background and summary of events

Background

The resident’s god-daughter has been assisting her with the complaint and any further reference to the resident shall mean either the resident herself or her goddaughter.
The property is a one bedroom ground floor flat and the resident has an assured tenancy which started on 3 April 2006. The landlord’s records show that the resident is an amputee. Also, to note that the resident is elderly and hearing impaired.
The resident contacted this Service on 29 March 2022, to complain about the landlord’s handling of repairs to her faulty boiler. She explained that she had completed the landlord’s internal complaint process but was unhappy with its response. She also explained that whilst the landlord had offered compensation it did not reflect the impact the issue had on her, and that she was still experiencing intermittent issues with the boiler, resulting in a lack of heating and hot water.

Landlord’s obligations

A landlord’s repairing responsibilities are set out in law, primarily in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. The landlord is obliged to keep in repair and proper working order the installations specifically mentioned in section 11. The provision extends to water tanks and boilers. This is confirmed in the tenancy agreement, which confirms that the landlord is responsible for ensuring the water heater and central heating installations are in good repair and proper working order.
The landlord’s repairs policy confirms that it is responsible for repairs to boilers and central heating systems. It states that emergency repairs should be completed within 24 hours, Routine repairs within 28 calendar days and major routine repairs within three months or as part of a planned programme of works.
The landlord classifies a total loss of heating as an emergency repair, it states that where requested by the resident, temporary heating will be supplied within 24 hours. In addition, it states that if replacement parts are needed, the repair may take a further seven days.
The repairs policy also states that with regard repairs to boilers and central heating, specific arrangements are in place for resident’s with particular vulnerabilities. Where appropriate, the repair will be carried out more quickly if it is impacting on a vulnerability. The landlord provides examples of residents it considers vulnerable as: older persons and those with physical or mental difficulties.
The landlord has an additional customer requirements policy which sets out how the landlord identifies, responds to and monitors customers with additional requirements. In its paragraph on safeguarding, it states that it ensures anyone employed by or working with the landlord is trained to identify and prevent safeguarding issues and it understands the different aspects of safeguarding that it has a duty to report. In addition, it states that all safeguarding concerns should be discussed with the assessment and support team and all concerns should be logged on the relevant reporting system within 24 hours.
The landlord operates a two stage complaints process. It aims to acknowledge the complaint within five days and respond within ten working days of its acknowledgement. It states that if it requires additional time to respond to the complaint, it will advise the resident and provide an update weekly after the initial ten working days. Stage two complaints should be acknowledged within 5 days and a full response provided within 20 days.
The landlord’s compensation policy is divided into three categories: Mandatory payments; quantifiable loss payments and; discretionary payments. Each category has a low, medium and high level of compensation, and the amount the landlord awards can range between an apology and £350.

Summary of events

The resident contacted the landlord on 21 November 2021, to report that she had no hot water. The landlord’s repairs log showed that the repair had been logged as an emergency. A contractor attended the property the same day and said that the boiler needed a new plate.
It is not clear from the records if the relevant part was ordered on the day the fault was identified or the following day. Nevertheless, the resident contacted the contractor on 22 November 2021 for an update on the repair.
The contractor attended on the 26 November 2021, removed the plate but found no fault with it. Instead, the contractor found that hot water was going down the heating circuit, so it replaced the pump and unblocked the diverter. The contractor tested the system and confirmed that the resident had both hot water and heating.
On 30 November 2021, the resident contacted the landlord again to report that she had no heating or hot water and no other means of bathing. The landlord’s repairs log showed that the boiler was displaying two different fault codes.
According to the contractor’s notes, it attended the property on 1 December 2021, but there was no response. It reported that the property had a white door and that it had left a calling card.
Notes on the landlord’s repairs log dated 3 December 2021 and 4 December 2021 showed that the repair was classed as an emergency and that the resident had no heating or hot water. The note explained that the resident was at the property and that the attending operative should telephone her and give her adequate time to respond.
The contractor’s log showed that on 3 December 2021, it received an emergency call out for the resident, who was still lacking both hot water and heating. It arranged to attend the property the following day and contacted the resident to advise her of the appointment. She asked if the contractor could attend that day, but it said it was unable to do so.
There is no record on the contractor’s log of attendance on 4 December 2021. However, it did state that an operative visited the property on 6 December 2021, but that he was unable to access the property so left a calling card. According to the notes, the property had a black door.
The contractor attended the property on 7 December 2021 and concluded that the boiler needed a new diverter. The operative in attendance requested an appointment for 9 December 2021.
Notes from 9 December 2021, showed that the wrong part had been ordered and therefore the repair was not completed. The correct part was subsequently ordered. However, notes showed that the contractor failed to collect the replacement part from the plumber’s merchant on 14 December 2021, which resulted in a further delay.
On 15 December 2021, the resident contacted the landlord to make a formal complaint. She explained that she had reported that she had no hot water on 21 November 2021, she added that an engineer attended the property a week later and advised that the boiler needed a replacement part. She stated that since then, contractors had failed to attend on several separate occasions. She explained that she was expecting an operative to attend the previous day, but no one did, due to the incorrect part having been ordered.
On 16 December 2021, the resident requested temporary heaters. The repairs log for 22 December 2021, showed that the landlord had escalated a request for temporary heaters to be delivered, but that status of the request was showing as cancelled with a follow on note which read ‘none left previously’. It is not clear to this Service if this indicates that the temporary heaters were delivered or if the request was cancelled as there were none available.
The resident contacted the landlord on 23 December 2021, to express disappointment with the way the landlord was handling the repair. She stated that to her knowledge the boiler was only two years old and the repair not a complicated one. The resident expressed that she had been feeling suicidal because of the issues being experienced. In addition, she explained that when she spoke with the contractor, it had stated that it would complete the repair either that day or the following day. But that she had received a call from the contractor that morning explaining that the repair would take place on 30 December 2021.
An internal email exchange between 23 December 2021 and 24 December 2021, showed that the landlord had been in contact with the resident who, it stated, was in a state of severe distress regarding the delayed repair. The landlord contacted the contractor who explained that the relevant part was available but that the earliest date it could complete the repair was 30 December 2021, it also added that it could not confirm this as a definite date. The landlord explained that the resident was elderly and asked the contractor if it could complete the repair sooner.
Also on 23 December 2021, in response to contact from the resident, the private Housing Team responded that whilst it normally only dealt with private housing, it had been in contact with the landlord who had advised that it would deliver temporary heaters to the property that afternoon and that the relevant part would be fitted to the boiler on 30 December 2021.
The resident explained that she was contacted by the landlord’s complaints team on 24 December 2021, and attempted to return the call an hour after she had received it. However, when she returned the call the landlord had an ‘out of office’ message stating that it would not be returning until 10 January 2022.
The landlord’s notes show that the boiler was drained and a new diverter fitted on 31 December 2021.
The landlord responded to the stage one complaint on 10 January 2022. In its response it apologised for the inconvenience it had caused and stated that it had liaised with internal teams to determine how the issued had been handled. It acknowledged that the resident had been lacking hot water and bathing facilities for the duration of the incident. It noted that the relevant part to fix the boiler was available on 23 December 2021 and that it was eventually fixed on 31 December 2021.
The landlord upheld the complaint and explained that although attempts had been made to restore hot water to the property sooner, it was unable to do so as it was waiting for a replacement part. The landlord offered £115 compensation as follows:
1. £50 for service failure
2. £25 for time and trouble
3. £40 for missed appointments
The landlord followed up its stage one response with a timeline of the actions to restore the hot water. It stated that on:
1. 21 November 2021, the resident reported that she had no hot water and that the boiler displayed F19 & F36 error codes. It noted that the plate was blocked and parts needed and it would take 2 hours to fit.
2. 26 November 2021, it removed the plate and found it was okay. It replaced the pump and unblocked diverter as hot water was going down heating circuit. Left tenant with heating and hot water and the job closed.
3. 30 November 2021, the resident reported that the property was lacking both hot water and heating and that the boiler was displaying F19 & F36 error codes.
4. 1 December 2021, the contractor visited the property but was unable to get access. The job was subsequently closed.
5. 3 December 2021, the same fault was reported.
6. 6 December 2021, the contractor visited the property but was unable to get access.
7. 7 December 2021, the contractor established that the diverter valve was faulty and needed replacing.
8. 16 December 2021, the contractor missed an appointment
9. 22 December 2021 the resident called and the contractor advised the part had still not been received at the merchants.
10. 31 December 2021, the boiler was drained and the diverter valve fitted.
The resident escalated her complaint the following day, disputing the timeline of events. She explained that when the fault was reported on 21 November 2021, it should have been actioned within 24 hours. However, she was lacking hot water until 26 November 2021 and although the boiler was repaired, it failed again after two days.
In addition, she stated that she had contacted the landlord every day for an update and noted that operatives stated they attended when they did not. She explained that she had waited in the property for the operatives on each occasion. She added that at no point did the landlord contact her to explain that operatives wouldn’t be attending. On each contact with the landlord she had to fully explain the issue, but the landlord was unable to offer a solution. She was eventually able to speak with the contractor who advised that it could potentially visit on either 23 December 2021 or 24 December 2021. However, when she contacted the landlord, it advised that no appointment had been made for either of those dates. The resident also pointed out that she had asked to be relocated but this request was denied and added that the landlord had not offered any alternatives and that it failed to monitor, control, manage or escalate the repair, even though it was aware that she was a vulnerable person.
The landlord responded at stage two on 20 January 2022. In its response it confirmed that it understood the resident had escalated her complaint on the basis that she did not agree with the timeline of events, or the compensation offered. It acknowledged and apologised that it took too long to repair the boiler and that this had an impact on her over the Christmas period. With regard to its complaint handling, it stated that it had acknowledged the stage one complaint on 20 December 2021, and did not see any evidence of poor complaint handling and consequently would not uphold that part of the complaint. However, it did uphold the resident’s complaint regarding its handling of the repair. It stated that it had a service level agreement for emergency repairs of seven days and that there was a service failure by its contractor.
The landlord increased its offer of compensation to £190 for the following:
1. £50 for failure of service
2. £100 for time and trouble
3. £40 for missed appointments
The resident rejected the offer of compensation and brought her complaint to the Ombudsman. Following the completion of the landlord’s internal complaints process, the resident experienced further faults with her boiler which resulted in intermittent heating and hot water.
The landlord provided this Service with an update to the complaint on 5 July 2022, in which it confirmed that the resident had experienced further issues with her boiler but that they were all resolved on 12 May 2022. It explained that it had reviewed all of the information and had made the resident a further additional offer of £120 compensation, taking the total compensation to £310: as follows:
1. £100 failure of service
2. £150 time and trouble
3. £40 missed appointment
4. £20 poor complaints handling.
In relation to the award for poor complaints handling it acknowledged that it had delayed in responding at stage one of the process.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s handling of repairs to a faulty boiler.

As set out in the Spotlight on repairs report published by this Service in March 2019, landlord’s must act promptly, particularly where issues are having a significant impact on residents. They should be particularly aware of the needs of vulnerable residents and respond accordingly. Furthermore, landlords should have access to, and offer residents temporary practical help during a period without heating or hot water – such as electric heaters and bottled water if the water supply is interrupted.
The initial report was attended within 24 hours and the presumed fault identified. In its repairs policy, the landlord states that if parts are required to fix a fault this could take a further seven days. The contractor returned to the property five days later, and whilst it did not require the part it had ordered, it was able to identify the fault and action the repair, within the seven day target.
Four days later the resident reported that the boiler had broken down again, and that she was lacking both heating and hot water. The repair was correctly logged as an emergency. However, whilst the contractor log showed that it had attended the property on the 1 December 2021 and 6 December 2021 and left a calling card on each occasion. There was a discrepancy regarding the colour of the resident’s door and therefore it is not clear if the contractor did indeed attend, as suggested.
An operative eventually attended the property seven days after the repair was logged as an emergency, and identified that the boiler needed a new diverter. However, the contractor ordered the wrong part, which resulted in further delays to the repair being completed.
Although the necessary part was available on 23 December 2021, the repair wasn’t completed until 31 December 2021, which the landlord explained was due to the plumbers merchant being closed over the Christmas period.
The resident was lacking both heating and hot water for a period of 31 days and spent an additional 5 days without hot water. The resident requested temporary heaters on 16 December 2021. It is unclear from the evidence provided if she received the heaters, and if she did it wasn’t until at least 23 December 2021. Therefore spending at least 23 days without any form of heating.
Whilst this Service acknowledges that in its policy the landlord states that temporary heaters will be provided at the request of the resident. This is not acceptable. It should not be the responsibility of the resident to request an alternative temporary form of heating. On this occasion, the landlord was aware that the resident was a vulnerable person. It should therefore have offered temporary heating as soon as it became aware of a fault with the heating system.
In addition, this Service notes that not only did the landlord fail to offer temporary heating it also failed to offer any form of alternative accommodation. Given the residents’ known vulnerabilities, the landlord should have taken reasonable steps to explore an alternative solution with the resident during this time.
The landlord states that with regard repairs to boilers and central heating, specific arrangements are in place for residents with particular vulnerabilities. Where appropriate, the repair will be carried out more quickly if it is impacting on a vulnerability. However, the landlord failed to action the repair within its standard published timescales and failed to have any regard for the resident’s vulnerabilities.
The landlord was aware that its contractor had initially ordered the wrong part for the boiler, which resulted in a delay to the repair. It was also aware that the contractor had failed to notify the resident that it would not be attending a pre-arranged appointment. In addition, the relevant part to fix the boiler was available on 23 December 2021, but evidence showed that the landlord only made a limited effort to arrange for the part to be replaced before Christmas. Whilst it is noted by this Service that the landlord did request that the contractor repair the part before its proposed date of 30 December 2021, after having received no response to its request, the landlord took no further action regarding the repair, and only followed it up on 10 January 2022.
As set out in the Spotlight on Repairs report published by this Service in March 2019, if a landlord contracts out its repairs service, the obligation to repair remains with the landlord and not the contractor. Landlords need to ensure that they have adequate oversight of their outsourced services.
The repair was eventually completed on 31 December 2021, which was 31 days after it had been reported. Even after allowing seven days for the replacement part to be sourced, the landlord still failed to complete the repair with its published timescales and therefore has failed in its policy position. In addition, the landlord failed to show any regard for the resident’s vulnerabilities. This Service has not seen any evidence of the landlord attempting to carry out the repair more quickly to minimise the impact on the resident’s vulnerabilities, as suggested in its repairs policy. The landlord has therefore failed in its policy position and this Service finds maladministration in the landlord’s handling of repairs to the boiler.
Although it apologised and offered compensation, the compensation offered was not proportionate due to the impact on the resident. The landlord did not acknowledge the extent of its failures or the distress and inconvenience caused in view of the resident’s vulnerability and the length of time without hot water or adequate heating.

The landlord’s complaint handling

It is not clear from information provided when the landlord acknowledged the stage one complaint. However, this Service notes that the resident submitted the complaint on 15 December 2021 and it showed on the landlord’s contact screen as having been logged on 16 December 2021. The landlord responded to the stage one response on 10 January 2022, which was 14 working days after it had been logged. The landlord therefore failed to respond within its published timescale. Furthermore, it failed to apologise for its delay in responding to the complaint.
Whilst the landlord acknowledged and apologised for the inconvenience caused, it only referred to the resident’s lack of hot water. The landlord’s response made no mention of the fact that the resident was also without heating for the duration of the fault. It therefore failed to fully understand the impact the issue had on the resident.
The landlord is reminded of paragraph 5.6 of the complaints handling code which states that landlords must address all points raised in the complaint and provide clear reasons for any decisions, referencing the relevant policy, law and good practice where appropriate.
In addition, the landlord failed to take full responsibility for the delay in repairing the boiler, its response only highlights that the delay was due to the fact that it was waiting for the replacement part. It made no mention or apology for its failure to order the correct part in the first place, or for the missed appointments and lack of communication.
In its stage two response, the landlord apologised that the resident was dissatisfied with the response she received at stage one. It stated that it had investigated how the complaint had been handled and found no fault and therefore did not uphold this part of the complaint. It acknowledged that it took too long to complete the repair and apologised for this.
However, it did not apologise for the additional impact on the resident, because of her vulnerabilities. Whilst it upheld this part of the complaint, the landlord failed to take full responsibility for the failings highlighted in this report, instead placing accountability on the contractor for the delays. The landlord increased its offer of redress. However, the offer did not go far enough to reflect the impact of the delay, and this landlord finds a service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Determination (decision)

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in respect the landlord’s handling of repairs to a faulty boiler.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Reasons

The landlord failed to complete the repairs within its published timescales and failed to take account of the resident’s vulnerabilities, which resulted in a detriment to the resident and impacted on her standard of living.
In its responses to the resident’s complaint, the landlord failed to take full responsibility for its failings. Whilst this Service acknowledges that the landlord took steps to provide some form of redress, this did not go far enough and did not reflect the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident.

Orders

Within four weeks of the date of this report the landlord must re-offer the £310 it had offered as redress to the resident, in its review of the complaint on 5 July 2022 (if not already accepted).
The landlord is ordered to pay the resident an additional £500 for the distress and inconvenience caused in its handling of repairs to the boiler.
The landlord is ordered to pay the resident an additional £150 for time and trouble caused by poor complaint handling.
The landlord is ordered to review its repairs policy, and in particular the section on vulnerable residents and enhanced services, to ensure that it has clearly set out the steps it will take to carry out the repair as quickly as possible.
The landlord is ordered to demonstrate to this Service, within four weeks of the date of the report, how it has complied with the above orders.

Recommendations

This Service recommends that the landlord takes note of the recommendations set out in the spotlight report on repairs and ensures that it has regard to these recommendations in all aspects of the repairs process.
The landlord should ensure that all relevant staff are aware of its policy regarding enhanced services for vulnerable persons.
The landlord should review its staff’s training needs in relation to their application of its complaints policy and the Ombudsman’s complaint handling code to ensure that they fully address every aspect of a complaint in every case.
The landlord should confirm its intentions in regard to the above recommendations to this Service within four weeks of the date of this report.