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Newlon Housing Trust (202401341)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202401341

Newlon Housing Trust

22 August 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 intermittent hot water.
  2. The Ombudsman has also investigated the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident is a healthcare worker and has been an assured tenant of the landlord since May 2021. As a key worker his tenancy is tied to his employment. The landlord is a housing association. The property is a self-contained studio flat. The bills for hot water, heating and electricity are included in the rent.
  2. On 16 March 2023, the resident informed the landlord that the hot water supply would sometimes not work after midnight. The landlord’s contractor visited on 17 March 2023 and advised that one of the boilers required a part, which another operative had already ordered. On 22 March 2023, the resident reported the issue again. He said that hot water was not available from the shower most evenings and night times. An engineer visited on 27 March 2023. They told the resident that there was an ongoing issue with an undersized hot water cylinder.
  3. On 8 December 2023, the resident complained to the landlord stating that he had made several reports about the absence of hot water in his property after midnight. He said he had reported the issue the previous year and the engineer had come at midday to investigate the cause. He believed this visit was of little benefit as the issue only arose after midnight. He said he had reported the issue again several weeks earlier, but the landlord had not been in touch and he felt this was unacceptable.
  4. The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 12 January 2024. It confirmed it was aware of the intermittent hot water issue in the evenings and was consulting with a gas engineer on a resolution. It advised it had requested that the building services department keep him updated and inform him when it expected the issue to be resolved. It said it upheld the resident’s complaint and offered £150 compensation for the inconvenience caused.
  5. The resident escalated his complaint on 29 January 2024. He said the landlord’s decision to send an engineer in the middle of the day, when the hot water only went off after midnight, was inappropriate. He outlined that the absence of hot water was preventing him from maintaining personal hygiene and had caused him to be more susceptible to respiratory illnesses. He advised he had been reporting the issue since April 2023 and it had yet to be resolved, which he found unacceptable. He said the landlord’s offer of £150 compensation was inadequate.
  6. The landlord issued its stage 2 response on 21 March 2024. It said:
    1. It felt its stage 1 response was fair but acknowledged it could have offered more compensation due to the impact on the resident.
    2. At the time of its stage 1 response, it had not fixed the issue with the hot water, and it therefore upheld his complaint.
    3. The contractor confirmed it had fitted a part on 12 February 2024, which resolved the intermittent hot water supply. It also advised it had attended the resident’s property on 27 March 2024 and tested the system, which was working.
    4. It acknowledged the challenges the absence of hot water had caused the resident and apologised for his experience.
    5. It increased its offer of compensation to £300.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

  1. In his complaint, the resident said that the lack of hot water was impacting his health. In accordance with the Scheme, the Ombudsman cannot draw conclusions on the causation of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing. This is because the assessment of fairness in such matters requires a level of expertise that we are unable to provide. Such matters are better suited to investigation through the courts or a personal injury insurance claim.

The landlord’s handling of the intermittent hot water supply

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy confirms its responsibility under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 to keep in good repair and proper working order installations for the supply of gas, electricity, heating, and hot water.
  2. The landlord’s compensation policy allows it to make payments for loss of amenity, such as a loss of heating and hot water. The payment for loss of both is £20 per week. Where the loss is hot water only, the payment is halved and is payable for all months of the year after an initial 7 days.
  3. The policy also allows the payment of compensation where there has been a service failure which has caused an impact on the resident. The level of payment ranges from £50 to £700+ depending on the severity of the impact.
  4. The resident said he reported the hot water not working properly in 2022. However, the first record available is from 24 January 2023. The record indicates a number of residents had reported a lack of hot water at peak times. The engineer’s notes from the visit on the same day states, “ongoing issue with size of hot water cylinders not sufficient for usage or size of building”. The evidence demonstrates the landlord was aware that it had an issue with the capacity for hot water storage.
  5. The resident’s report on 16 March 2023 about the intermittent hot water supply generated a visit from an engineer within 24 hours, which was appropriate. However, when on site the engineer noted there was a fault that had been previously identified on 6 March 2023. The notes show this was an issue with a boiler and not related to the capacity of the supply. Inappropriately, there is no indication that any information or explanation was given to the resident.
  6. After the resident reported the issue again on 22 March 2023, an engineer visited on 23 March 2023. This visit was to replace the faulty parts previously identified. It again was not related to the resident’s report about the intermittent supply. On 27 March 2023, an engineer told the resident that the intermittent supply was due to an undersized hot water cylinder. The engineer’s comments were helpful and would have been beneficial to the resident’s understanding of the issue.
  7. Some months later, on 6 December 2023, a report was prepared for the landlord. The report confirmed that the current system was not capable of coping with the hot water requirement in the building. The report stated that the addition of 2 500–litre buffer vessels was required to double the hot water storage in order to meet demand. The report shows the landlord was appropriately taking steps to resolve the problems with the hot water supply. Nonetheless, it is also evident that the landlord was acutely aware of the issue. At this point it would have been reasonable for it to have written to residents to explain the findings of the report and to explain what actions it was taking and when it expected the work to be complete. There is no evidence the landlord did this, which demonstrates poor communication and a lack of transparency.
  8. The resident complained to the landlord on 8 December 2023 about the water supply. He then reported the issue again on 21 December 2023. He said that he and other residents were healthcare workers who worked nightshifts and required hot water to maintain personal hygiene. There is no evidence the landlord responded to this email. Even though it was preparing its complaint response, it would have been reasonable for it to have contacted the resident to explain what the issue was and what it was doing to fix it (particularly given the imminent Christmas period). Not doing so was a further missed opportunity to provide important information to help the resident understand the problem and manage his expectations.
  9. In the landlord’s complaint response on 12 January 2024, it acknowledged that it was aware of the intermittent issues and advised that it was working towards a solution. It said it had asked the building services department to keep the resident informed of developments. While the landlord’s update was positive, it could have gone further by requesting indicative timescales from its contractor and sharing these with the resident.
  10. In both his complaint and his escalation request, the resident said he was dissatisfied that the engineer had come during the day and not at midnight. This indicated that he did not understand the nature of the problem and likely caused him ongoing frustration. This should have prompted the landlord to offer a further explanation and to verify understanding. Further, the evidence does not show that the building services department provided the resident with any updates. This indicates ongoing poor communication that would have left the resident feeling unheard and unsupported.
  11. In its stage 2 complaint response on 21 March 2024, the landlord confirmed that the contractor had fitted a part on 15 February 2024 that resolved the intermittent hot water supply issue. However, the resident notified it on 10 April 2024 that the issue had happened again. After a further inspection, the landlord confirmed that the problem was fully resolved in April 2024. Its records demonstrate that the intermittent hot water supply had been ongoing for 16 months. This was an unacceptable period of time that significantly exceeded the 20–day timeframe for urgent repairs. The landlord’s knowledge that the block was occupied by healthcare workers increases the significance of the failure.
  12. The landlord was aware of the resident’s occupation from his tenancy agreement. He also made clear that he was unable to maintain his personal hygiene due to only having cold water available. Working shifts in a hospital would have brought the resident into contact with patients experiencing a range of illnesses. It is also likely that he encountered numerous bodily fluids throughout his work. The resident’s expectations for a ready supply of hot water were therefore both understandable and reasonable. Not knowing if he was going to have access to a hot shower after his shift could have caused the resident ongoing and unnecessary anxiety throughout the period.
  13. In summary, the evidence shows that the landlord was aware of the hot water issue as early as January 2023. However, throughout the period it demonstrated poor communication and a lack of transparency and openness. It failed to offer adequate support and information to the resident and manage his expectations. Further, it did not comply with its repairs policy or demonstrate that it prioritised the repairs given the specific group it housed in the block. Overall, considering the above points, we have made a finding of maladministration.
  14. Through its complaint responses the landlord offered the resident £300 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by the lack of hot water. After the resident brought his complaint to us, the parties took part in mediation, where the landlord increased its offer of compensation to £400. While we find the offer was reasonable in terms of distress and inconvenience, it did not include any loss of amenity payment, which is required by its policy.
  15. The policy awards £10 per week for the loss of hot water. As the issue was intermittent, we cannot say that the resident was without hot water for the entire 16–month period. Further, it was only at specific times of the day. We therefore consider it is reasonable to award the loss of amenity payment for a third of the period, which is approximately 21 weeks. There is a requirement to remove one week as there is a required 7–day lead–in period. This results in a payment of £200.

Complaint handling

  1. The landlord has a 2-stage complaints procedure. It commits to acknowledging complaints and escalation requests within 5 working days. Stage 1 and 2 complaints will be responded to within 10 and 20 working days respectively. The policy confirms that the response times outlined begin from the date the complaint is received. If the landlord requires additional time to respond, it states it will contact the complainant and agree an extension.
  2. The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint 21 working days outside its published timescale, and its stage 2 response 16 working days outside the timescale. It did not notify the resident of the delay at either stage of the complaints process. This was unreasonable and would have been frustrating for the resident. The landlord also did not acknowledge, apologise or offer compensation for the delays in its complaint responses, which was inappropriate. Further, it did not offer a loss of amenity payment as required by its policy, which was unfair on the resident.
  3. Due to these errors, we have found maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling and made an award of £150 compensation. This payment is in line with the landlord’s compensation policy and the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s:
    1. Handling of the resident’s reports of intermittent hot water.
    2. Complaint handling.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks from the date of this report, the landlord must:
    1. Provide a written apology from a senior manager to the resident for the failures identified in this report. The apology must meet the criteria highlighted in the Ombudsman’s apologies guidance.
    2. Pay the resident £750 compensation. This sum is inclusive of the money already offered. The money must be paid directly to the resident and not offset against any rent arrears. It is comprised of:
      1. The £400 for the distress and inconvenience offered in its complaint responses and mediation (if not already paid).
      2. £200 for loss of amenity.
      3. £150 for the distress and inconvenience associated with its complaint handling.