Muir Group Housing Association Limited (202127673)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202127673

Muir Group Housing Association Limited

12 July 2022


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 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 gas safety check at the resident’s property.

Background

  1. The resident is a tenant of the landlord of a bungalow, where he moved for medical reasons, and he has health issues and disabilities.
  2. The landlord’s gas contractor booked an appointment for 30 July 2021 to carry out an annual gas safety check at the resident’s property, which it confirmed to him in writing. However, the contractor then missed the appointment on that date. Subsequently, the resident raised a stage one complaint about this with the landlord on 2 August 2021, as this was the third time that the contractor had missed an appointment with him. He therefore did not want that contractor to attend his property again, whose contract he wanted evaluated in light of this, but he stated that he would welcome the landlord appointing an alternative contractor to carry out the annual gas safety check there, after which he declined the original contractor‘s new appointment.
  3. The landlord responded to the resident’s stage one complaint on 17 August 2021, and it advised that the gas contractor had missed the appointment to carry out the annual gas safety check due to staff sickness, staff shortages and Covid-19. It acknowledged that this did not account for the contractor failing to re-book the appointment and apologised for this. The landlord stated that it would not use a different contractor, however, as it said that this did not happen very often and had been and would continue to be discussed with them, and that it would be in touch to re-book the appointment to carry out the resident’s annual gas safety check.
  4. The resident escalated his complaint to stage two of the landlord’s complaints procedure on 23 August 2021. He was unhappy as it its named staff member had not contacted him within two working days about his complaint, as agreed, although another member of its staff had. The resident also wanted to clarify that the alternative contractors that he sought to attend his property instead of the landlord’s original gas contractor were not being requested by him, but were a decision that he had made and would keep to, as he did not trust the current contractor and would decline them further access to the property.
  5. The resident wanted the landlord to end its contract with its gas contractor with immediate effect, as he disputed the accuracy of their information about their missed appointments with him, and he also wanted £2,000 compensation to reflect his belief that the landlord had failed to resolve the matter. On 14 September 2021, in its stage two complaint response, it apologised again and advised that his experience would be highlighted to its senior management. The landlord nevertheless explained that it could not agree to the resident’s £2,000 compensation request, as that amount far exceeded the levels of compensation available in its customer feedback policy.
  6. The landlord advised that it would book another appointment for its gas contractor to attend the resident’s property to carry out the annual gas service check there, and that it could also attend the appointment to reassure him. However, it explained that, if he did not let its contractor attend his property in order to carry out the annual gas safety check, it would be forced to instruct its solicitors to send him draft court paperwork and consider capping off his gas supply, due to its statutory obligation to carry out annual gas safety checks and for safety and compliance.
  7. Although the landlord apologised that its named staff member had been on leave so that a colleague had contacted the resident about his complaint instead, and it agreed to share his feedback at its next formal contract management meeting to avoid recurrences of his experience with its gas contract going forward. He subsequently received a letter from the landlord’s gas contractor on 17 September 2021, in which they apologised for the missed appointment that they said was due to a technical error with their system. The contractor also asked the resident to contact them to rearrange the annual gas safety check at his home before his gas safety certificate expired on 5 October 2021.
  8. The resident then escalated his complaint to the final stage of the landlord’s complaints procedure on 24 September 2021, stating that he was unhappy with the landlord’s decisions not to pay him £2,000 compensation and to continue using the same gas contractor instead of providing him with an alternative. He reported that this had affected his health and threatened him, as a severely disabled tenant, with his gas supply being cut off.
  9. The resident subsequently received a letter from the landlord’s solicitors on 28 September 2021, in which they reiterated its statutory obligation to carry out an annual gas safety check, and alleged that he had denied it access for this on numerous occasions. The solicitors added that they would take legal action to seek a court order for such access if he did not arrange an appointment for the annual gas safety check within seven days, for which they enclosed their draft court application.
  10. On 28 September 2021, the resident received a letter from the landlord, in which it stated that he had failed to keep several appointments with its contractors regarding the annual gas safety check, and had failed to contact the landlord to arrange a convenient time to carry this out. Nevertheless, its records showed that the annual gas safety check was carried out on 4 October 2021 by its in-house staff. The landlord issued its final stage complaint response on 11 October 2021, in which it upheld its previous decisions in relation to the annual gas safety check, as it was satisfied that both it and its gas contractor had acted appropriately with regard to this.
  11. The resident subsequently complained to this Service that he was unhappy with the landlord’s handling of the annual gas safety check, disputing the accuracy of its and its contractor’s communications, and that he wanted £2,000 compensation for his belief that it had failed to resolve the matter. He also wanted an alternative gas contractor to carry out any repairs and servicing or further annual gas safety checks at his property in the future, to which he had not previously denied access. The resident stated that he had not been informed that the landlord’s in-house staff could do so, and that it and its contractor’s actions had caused him distress, inconvenience and affected his severe disabilities.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. Although the resident has reported that his severe disabilities were affected by the landlord’s handling of the annual gas safety check at his property, it is not within this Service’s authority or expertise to determine its liability or to award damages for his subsequent ill-health in the way that a court or insurer might. Therefore, consideration of this issue is outside the scope of this investigation.

The landlord’s handling of the gas safety check at the resident’s property

  1. Initially, the landlord responded to the resident’s reports from 2 August 2021 that its gas contractor had missed an appointment with him for the third time, by missing his annual gas safety check appointment for 31 July 2021, by declining his requirement for an alternative contractor. The landlord instead apologised to him for the missed appointment, stated that it would re-book this with him for the original contractor, and agreed to discuss the missed appointment with them, without offering him the use of its own staff for this or any other remedy to try and put things right.
  2. The landlord then agreed to highlight the resident’s experience to its senior management. However, it declined his subsequent £2,000 compensation request without offering him a different remedy, warned him that it would consider capping off his gas supply, and instructed its solicitors to warn him that they would take legal action if he did not agree a new annual gas safety check appointment with its gas contractor. The landlord nevertheless went on to arrange for its in-house staff to carry this out at the resident’s property on 4 October 2021, prior to the expiry of his gas safety certificate on 5 October 2021.
  3. The resident’s tenancy agreement states that he must allow any officer, representative, contractor or other agent employed by the landlord to enter his property at all reasonable times to inspect or carry out work there, if it has given him reasonable notice of at least 24 hours in most circumstances. While he did not refuse access to the landlord or any alternative contractors to the property for his annual gas safety check, which meant that its in-house staff were able to complete this there, he declined to give further access to the landlord’s original gas contractor to do so, which was contrary to the tenancy agreement. Nevertheless, the resident’s objections could have been resolved by the landlord’s use of its in-house staff to carry out the annual gas safety check before 4 October 2021.
  4. It is also concerning that the landlord warned the resident that it would consider capping off his gas supply and instructed its solicitors to draft a court application prior to considering using its in-house staff to carry out the annual gas safety check, when he had confirmed his willingness to it to accept an alternative contractor to do so. These actions did not maintain a good relationship between it and him, or display a willingness by it to resolve the situation amicably, especially as it had the means to do so but chose not to from 2 August to 4 October 2021. Whereas, if the landlord had no method other than its original gas contractor to complete the annual gas safety check, this approach would have been understandable.
  5. It is additionally of concern that the landlord’s actions were taken when it was aware that the resident had moved to his property for medical reasons, had health issues and disabilities, and reported to it that he had been caused distress, inconvenience and that his severe disabilities had been affected by its handling of his annual gas safety check. However, there is no evidence that it considered this before deciding to warn him that it was considering capping off his gas supply, and instructed its solicitors to warn him that they would take legal action, instead of accepting his offer to use an alternative gas contractor for the annual gas safety check, which it subsequently agreed to via its in-house staff.
  6. Moreover, while the landlord acknowledged the resident’s request for £2,000 compensation, and correctly stated that this far exceeded the amounts in its customer feedback policy, it failed to discuss or make an offer that it felt would have been in line with the amounts in the policy in either of its complaint responses. By stating that it would not consider the amount that he had requested and by not offering him an alternative remedy, it did not show a willingness to resolve the situation. The landlord ought to have instead indicated to the resident the compensation amounts that it would have been willing to offer him. Alternatively, it could have explained to him why it felt that compensation was not appropriate to clarify its position, or it could have offered him a different remedy.
  7. It was appropriate that the landlord did not consider awarding the resident compensation for his reports that his severe disabilities had been affected by its handling of his annual gas safety check, as its customer feedback policy excluded compensation payments for claims such as this that could be made under its public liability insurance. It nevertheless failed to provide him with details to enable him to submit such a claim after he informed it of this, which was unreasonable, and so it has been ordered to do so below.
  8. It was also inappropriate that the landlord did not consider exercising the discretion available to it under the customer feedback policy to compensate the resident for its gas contractor’s missed annual gas safety check appointment of 31 July 2021, any previous missed appointments, and the distress and inconvenience that he reported experiencing from its handling of this. As he reported that these had a major impact on him as a person with health issues and disabilities who had moved to his property for medical reasons, and the landlord was responsible to him on behalf of the contractor for the missed appointments and for warning him before considering an alternative contractor, it should have considered compensating him at the level recommended for these by its policy.
  9. The landlord has therefore been ordered below to pay the resident £500 compensation, which is the maximum amount that it can award as compensation for the above failures under the customer feedback policy. This amount has not been further increased under this Service’s remedies guidance, despite his request for £2,000 compensation, because we have also taken into account the fact that he declined its original gas contractor another appointment to carry out the annual gas safety check at his property, as this was an additional contributing factor to his case. Moreover, the landlord has been recommended below to review its processes and staff training needs for arranging gas safety inspections and works for vulnerable residents to seek to prevent its failings in the resident’s case from occurring again in the future.


Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the gas safety check at the resident’s property.

Orders and Recommendation

  1. The landlord is ordered to:
  1. Pay the resident £500 compensation within four weeks for its gas contractor’s missed annual gas safety check appointment of 31 July 2021, any previous missed appointments, and the distress and inconvenience that he reported experiencing from its handling of this.
    1. Provide the resident within four weeks with details to enable him to submit a public liability insurance claim to it or its insurers for damages for the effect on his severe disabilities that he reported from its handling of the annual gas safety check at his property.
  1. It is recommended that the landlord review its processes and staff training needs for arranging gas safety inspections and works for vulnerable residents to seek to prevent its failings in the resident’s case from occurring again in the future.
  2. The landlord shall contact this Service within four weeks to confirm that it has complied with the above orders, and whether it will follow the above recommendation.