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Moat Homes Limited (202410892)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202410892

Moat Homes Limited

9 October 2025

 

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 the resident’s reports of low water pressure.
  2. The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident has an assured tenancy with the landlord in a 1-bedroom bungalow. The tenancy began in November 2023. She has physical health conditions including cancer.
  2. Between December 2023 and January 2024 the resident reported a number of times that the hot taps in her home had low water pressure. Each time the landlord sent its contractor to check. On 17 January 2024 the contractor found an airlock in the shower and hose. This was repaired and the water pressure returned to normal.
  3. On 22 January 2024, the resident made a complaint to the landlord. She explained that the water pressure was so low that she could not wash properly. That same day, the landlord’s contractor attended the property. They found an issue with an open vent in the water tank and said that the entire system had been poorly installed. They recommended removing the tank and pressurising the system.
  4. On 5 February 2024 the landlord responded to the complaint at stage 1. It included a timeline of the actions it had taken. It said that part of the delay happened because it was unclear whether the issue was a gas or plumbing repair. To recognise the delay and the inconvenience caused, it offered the resident £50 compensation.
  5. The next day, the resident asked to escalate the complaint. She was unhappy with the compensation offered, saying she had been without proper water for 2 months. And needed adequate washing facilities because of her health conditions. She also reported that water flow was still too weak for a shower and requested a combi boiler.
  6. On 21 March 2024 the landlord issued its stage 2 final response. It said its contractor would fit a new vent and would contact the resident by 27 March 2024 with a repair date. Its contractor advised that a combi boiler would not improve the situation. The landlord acknowledged that the issue had been passed between contractors and increased its compensation offer to £150 as the issue remained unresolved.
  7. In her referral to us, the resident said that the new vent had not fixed the low water pressure, and she had to go to her daughter’s house to bathe. She wanted more compensation and the issue resolved.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of low water pressure

  1. The landlord does not dispute that there were failings in its handling of this matter. Where the landlord admits failings, we consider whether it resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances and offered appropriate redress. In considering this, we assess whether the landlord’s actions were in line with our Dispute Resolution Principles: Be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
  2. The landlord responded to the resident’s reports, however, it did not resolve the problem. As a result, the resident was left without proper running hot water, causing her significant distress and inconvenience. She said she boiled kettles to wash or travelled to her daughter’s home to bathe. This was especially difficult because of her health conditions. The resident has an ileostomy bag and therefore told the landlord that she required adequate running water and suitable washing facilities.
  3. There was confusion over which contractor was responsible for resolving the issue, and there was a constant back and forth between different contractors. The landlord acknowledged this in its formal responses and recognised this contributed to delays in fixing the problem.
  4. On 17 January 2024 the landlord’s contractor repaired an airlock in the shower and hose which temporarily resolved the low water pressure. However, the problem returned soon after. The landlord’s records showed its contractor attended again on 22 January 2204 and found an issue with an open vent. They recommended removing the water tank and pressurising the system. However, the landlord did not appear to act on this, and it is unclear why.
  5. The landlord attended the property again in February 2024 and said running new vent into the loft from the water tank could resolve the issue. It is unclear why this solution was not identified sooner, and the landlord’s records showed there was a delay in completing this work. This showed a lack of awareness of the impact on the resident. And she told us that the new vent had not resolved the low water pressure.
  6. The landlord’s final response offered £150 compensation. However, this does not go far enough to put things right. The resident has lived with low water pressure for around 19 months, and the issue is still unresolved, causing her ongoing upset and distress. She explained that the water pressure is still very low and that she cannot wash every day because of it.
  7. The landlord did not complete the repair within its 21-day policy target. There were unreasonable delays, and it failed to act on recommendations promptly. The repeated back-and-forth between contractors also added to these delays.
  8. If the same issue keeps being reported, it would be reasonable for the landlord to carry out a more detailed technical inspection to identify the root cause and carry out a lasting repair. However, there is no evidence that it did so.
  9. We find maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of lower water pressure. We have ordered the landlord to pay the resident a further £350 compensation. This is in line with our remedies guidance, which suggests awards up to £600 when failures have adversely affected the resident. We have also ordered the landlord to investigate potential causes and provide an action plan to resolve the matter.

Complaint handling

  1. The landlord took 33 working days to respond to the resident’s complaint at stage 2, contrary to its 20-working day policy timescale. It also failed to acknowledge her escalation request within its 5 working day policy timescale, only doing so in March 2024, almost a month after the escalation request. This caused the resident time and trouble as she had to follow up to confirm whether her complaint had been escalated.
  2. The landlord did not acknowledge or apologise for these delays in its final response, showing a lack of learning. We therefore find service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling and have ordered it to pay the resident £50 in compensation for the time and trouble caused.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in respect of its handling of the resident’s reports of low water pressure.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in respect of its complaint handling.

Orders

  1. The landlord must do the following within the next 4 weeks:
    1. Provide a written apology for the failures identified in this report.
    2. Pay the resident compensation of £600 comprised of:
      1. £150 as offered in the landlord’s final response if it has not done so already.
      2. A further £400 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s handling of reports of low water pressure.
      3. £50 for the time and trouble caused by the landlord’s complaint handling.
    3. Arrange an inspection of the property to identify the cause of the low water pressure. The inspection must include a pressure and flow test. It must create an action plan with proposed timescales for resolving the issue. A copy of the inspection report and action plan must be provided to the resident and this Service.