Notting Hill Genesis (202201897)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202201897

Notting Hill Genesis

24 November 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:
    1. The repair to the resident’s heating and hot water system, and the subsequent offer of compensation for this.
    2. The repair to the resident’s shower, and the subsequent offer of compensation for this.
    3. The associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is a tenant of the landlord of a flat, for which she pays £577.24 per month rent.
  2. The resident first reported a lack of heating at the property to the landlord’s contractor on 7 December 2021, for which they recorded that they attended the boiler and left this working on that date, but she subsequently disputed that they did so. They then noted that they re-attended the boiler on 20 December 2021, as she was unable to turn the heating down and there was no hot water, which they attempted to fix but needed a commercial engineer to properly address. The contractor’s next attendance for the heating getting too hot on 4 January 2022 found that parts were required for this, which they ordered on 10 January 2022, and that they had to explain the heating controls to the resident, but that her hot water was working.
  3. The resident went on to inform the landlord in an attempted stage one complaint on 1 and 2 February 2022 that she was without heating and hot water at the property that was making her and her baby unwell, and that she had continued to have issues with this since December 2021. It then explained to her on 3 February 2022 that it apologised for her experience, but that her complaint could only be made once its contractor had resolved the matter, although they did arrange to drop off two temporary heaters to her on 7 February 2022 while advising that they were still awaiting parts to repair the boiler. The contractor subsequently found that the parts had not yet arrived when they attempted to collect and fit these on 14 February 2022.
  4. The landlord’s contractor’s records showed that the resident went on to return the third of their calls to book an appointment for them to fit the replacement parts to the boiler on 25 February 2022, but that further parts were still needed. She therefore informed the landlord that she continued to be without heating that was affected her and her baby’s health on the same date. The contractor then recorded that they attempted to call the resident to book another repair appointment five times from 1 March 2022 until she returned their call on 23 March 2022 to book the final repair to the boiler, which was completed on 29 March 2022, leaving her resident with working heating and hot water, apart from in her shower.
  5. The resident’s shower was first discovered to be in need repair on 25 March 2022, when the property was attended by the contractor for the lack of hot water from this, and subsequently by a plumber on the same date, for which she was advised that the shower system needed to be replaced. Following another plumber’s attendance and quotation for a replacement part to fix the shower on 5 and 6 April 2022, respectively, the landlord re-opened her stage one complaint on 8 April 2022 regarding the delay to the repairs to the hot water, heating and shower. She sought the completion of the repair and compensation for the time without heating and hot water, poor service, and her distress and inconvenience.
  6. The landlord’s stage one complaint response of 26 April 2022 apologised for the distress caused, and offered £384.59 compensation for the loss of heating, hot water and associated distress and inconvenience that the resident experienced. The contractor also offered her a stage one complaint response on that date, which included an apology, an agreement to investigate and learn from her case to prevent any recurrence, and a further offer of £50 compensation. The shower repair was then completed on 27 April 2022, but the resident made a final stage complaint on 11 May 2022 because she was dissatisfied with the amount of compensation offered at stage one, and she sought to be reimbursed for her electricity bills from the lack of heating and hot water.
  7. In the subsequent final stage complaint response of 15 June 2022, the landlord requested copies of the resident’s electricity bills from December 2021 to March 2022 to respond to her reimbursement request, and it increased its compensation offer to £650.90, which was broken down as:
    1. For the loss of heating and hot water for 111 days from 7 December 2021 to 29 March 2022 after the first 48 hours, £210.90 calculated at the rate of £1.90 per day as 10% of her daily rent of £19.03.
    2. For the delay to the repair to the shower, £40.
    3. For the delay in offering her temporary heaters, £100.
    4. For her distress and inconvenience, £300.
  8. The resident then complained to this Service, as she remained dissatisfied with the amount of compensation that the landlord had offered her. She instead sought to be reimbursed for her increased electricity costs, and a higher level of compensation for its delays in offering her temporary heaters and in repairing her heating, hot water and shower.

Assessment and findings

Scope of Investigation

  1. It is noted that the resident has attributed her household’s sickness to the lack of heating in the property. This is nevertheless outside the scope of this investigation because, under the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, while we do not doubt her comments regarding this, this Service is unable to determine liability or award damages for ill-health because we do not have the authority or expertise to do so. However, we have considered the general distress and inconvenience which the situation has caused the resident’s family.

Policies and Procedures

  1. The landlord’s responsive repairs policy describes the loss of heating or hot water from October to March as an emergency repair, and it aims to attend this within 4 hours and have all major services restored and all further work completed within 24 hours, within reason. A routine repair is non-urgent work to rectify damage and ensure the proper working order of the property’s fixtures that should be completed within 20 working days. The repairs policy also states that the landlord is responsible for repairs to existing central heating, water heaters and showers provided by it.
  2. The landlord’s compensation and goodwill gestures policy permits goodwill gestures to acknowledge failures in service with up to £50 in value. Compensation that is discretionary to recognise significant distress and inconvenience following a serious failure in service over a period of time can be up to £250, but in exceptional circumstances this can be higher. If a failure causes a resident to incur additional expenses then the landlord aims to cover reasonable additional expenses with evidence of these. If there is a failure by it to complete repairs for the loss of heating in October to March, or of hot water, compensation is awarded at the rate of 10% of daily rent, after the first 48 hours.
  3. The landlord’s complaints and compliments policy aims to respond to stage one complaints within 10 working days. A final stage complaint should receive a response within 20 working days. If these deadlines cannot be met, there should be communication to the resident to agree a new timescale.

The repair to the resident’s heating and hot water system, and the subsequent offer of compensation for this

  1. The landlord’s responsive repairs policy made it responsible for repairing the resident’s heating and hot water as an emergency repair within 24 hours within reason, as these issues occurred from 7 December 2021 to 29 March 2022, and so were between October and March. Its contractor reported that they initially did so by repairing this on the same date on 7 December 2021, although she disputed this and the landlord ultimately accepted that she was without heating and hot water during this period and compensated her accordingly.
  2. The landlord’s decision to do so was reasonable, given that there was a discrepancy as to when the resident was without heating between her reports and its contractor’s records. She stated that she was without heating and hot water from 7 December 2021 to 29 March 2022, however the contractor’s records said that the boiler was working after the repair on 7 December 2021, and that on 20 December 2021 and 4 January 2022 the heating was found to not be working again, for which a commercial engineer and parts were required.
  3. The landlord’s and its contractor’s records showed that there were then delays in repairing the resident’s boiler due to the parts that were ordered not being ready to pick up and install, and this requiring further parts, when the contractor scheduled this on 14 and 25 February 2022, respectively. The contractor also reported that they had to call her three times to arrange the appointment on 25 February 2022 and that, between 1 and 23 March 2022, they attempted to contact her five times to schedule the final repair for 29 March 2022.
  4. These parts of the resident’s heating and hot water repair delays may therefore have been outside of the landlord’s and its contractor’s control while they were appropriately trying to carry out the repair. The delay in completing this repair and fully restoring working heating and hot water at the property from 7 December 2021 to 29 March 2022 was nevertheless a failure in service under the landlord’s responsive repairs policy. However, it subsequently took the opportunity to use its complaints procedure to apologise, and offer proportionate redress for this and its related failings, by completing the repairs and offering the resident an appropriate level of compensation in recognition of them.
  5. These related failings included the fact that, while the repair was being undertaken, the landlord should have proactively explored other solutions to address the delays from 4 January and 25 February 2022 when it was waiting for boiler parts to complete the repair. This is including, but not limited to, considering decanting the resident, providing her with temporary heaters, and ensuring that she had access to hot water. While the landlord did provide her with heaters, this was on 7 February 2022, two months after she had initially reported that her heating was not working on 7 December 2021, and only after she had attempted to complain about this and her hot water from 1 February 2022.
  6. This was a failure, which the landlord took ownership of and apologised for in its final stage complaint response, offering the resident compensation of £100 in recognition of this. This is in line with the range of discretionary compensation available under its compensation and goodwill gestures policy for failing to meet service standards, causing distress and inconvenience that has not been manageable for her.
  7. The landlord also offered £300 compensation for the resident’s distress and inconvenience for the delay in repairing the boiler. This is above the upper limit of up to £250 discretionary compensation that is available under its compensation and goodwill gestures policy, which had to be agreed in exceptional circumstances for a serious failure in service delivery over a period of time that caused her significant distress and inconvenience. This highlights that the landlord understood the severity of the resident’s distress and inconvenience, and made a concerted attempt to redress its failings proportionately.
  8. The landlord ultimately calculated the resident’s compensation for the loss of the property’s hot water and heating from 7 December 2021 to 29 March 2022 after the first 48 hours, which was appropriate. Its final stage complaint response did so by offering £210.90 for the loss of heating and hot water during this period at the rate of 10% of her daily rent of £19.03, as recommended by its compensation and goodwill gestures policy for the loss of heating in October to March and hot water. While the resident disputed how the amount of rent was calculated, this was the correct amount of compensation for her being without heating and hot water for 111 days, in line with the landlord’s policy, as her £577.24 per month rent was £6,926.88 per year, £133.21 per week, and £19.03 per day.
  9. The landlord’s contractor’s stage one complaint response to the resident regarding the delays in repairing her hot water and heating agreed to investigate this to prevent a recurrence, apologised, and offered her a goodwill gesture of £50. This was an appropriate action for the contractor to take as a learning opportunity to show that they had learnt from the outcome of her case as required by this Service’s dispute resolution principles. Moreover, their compensation offer, while disputed by the resident, was in line with the landlord’s compensation and goodwill gestures policy’s recommendation for goodwill gestures to acknowledge failures in service to be up to the value of £50. It and its contractor have therefore been recommended below to re-offer her the compensation and goodwill gesture that they previously awarded her, if she has not received these already.
  10. The landlord additionally responded to the resident’s request to be reimbursed for her increased electricity bills from her lack of heating and hot water during the period that she was without these suitably. This is because its final stage complaint response requested copies of her electricity bills from December 2021 to March 2022 to respond to her reimbursement request, which accorded with its compensation and goodwill gestures policy’s confirmation that it aimed to cover such expenses with evidence of these. While the resident complained about this, it was reasonable for the landlord to request relevant evidence to enable it to accurately calculate and pay her the reasonable expenses that she incurred from its failure under its policy, which it has been recommended below to do again.

The repair to the resident’s shower, and the subsequent offer of compensation for this

  1. The landlord was responsible for repairing the resident’s shower as a routine repair within 20 working days under its responsive repairs policy. In this case, it did not fully comply with this timeframe and, as a result, she was unable to use her shower for approximately a further month after the repair to the shower had been discovered, and the repair to her hot water system had been completed, on 25 and 29 March 2022, respectively. This is because, after a plumber’s attendance and quotation for a replacement part to fix the shower on 5 and 6 April 2022, the landlord arranged for the shower to be fixed on 27 April 2022.
  2. This repair therefore took 21 working days, which was outside of the landlord’s responsive repairs policy’s 20-working-day timescale. While this failure was only a brief delay to the published repair timeframe, it was appropriate that it took ownership of and apologised for this in its final stage complaint response, as the resident had continued to be without a working shower approximately a month after the restoration of her hot water. To redress this failure and her resulting distress and inconvenience, the landlord offered her compensation of £40. This was in line with its compensation and goodwill gestures policy’s recommended range of discretionary compensation for it failing to meet its service standards, and for the issue taking slightly longer than expected, causing some inconvenience to the resident.
  3. While the resident found the situation distressing and requested a higher level of compensation for this, the landlord ultimately took reasonable steps to meet its obligations to repair the shower. There was a delay to complete this repair that was a failure in service, but it subsequently took the opportunity of its complaints procedure to apologise for this, and suitably redress this failing by completing the repair and offering her appropriate compensation. The landlord offered the resident compensation that took into consideration her distress and inconvenience in line with its compensation and goodwill gestures policy, which meant that it was not obliged to increase this.
  4. Therefore, it has been recommended below that the landlord re-offer the resident the compensation that it previously awarded her for its delay in repairing her shower, if she has not received this already.

The associated complaint

  1. In line with its complaints and compliments policy and this Service’s complaint handling code, the landlord is expected to respond to stage one complaints within 10 working days, and to agree any extensions to this with the resident. The code also requires it to ensure that efforts to resolve concerns do not obstruct access to, or unreasonably delay, its complaints procedure.
  2. The resident made a stage one complaint on 1 February 2022, however, and this was closed while the heating and hot water repairs were ongoing at her property, which was explained to her. The landlord instead only permitted the complaint to be re-opened after these repairs were finished on 29 March 2022, doing so on 8 April 2022 while her shower repair remained outstanding until 27 April 2022.
  3. The landlord’s stage one complaint response of 26 April 2022 was therefore 58 working days after the complaint was originally made, with its extension to this only being communicated to instead of being agreed with the resident. This 48-working-day delay, resulting from its closure and re-opening of the complaint pending the completion of heating and hot water but not shower repairs at her property, was also not specified as being permitted by any provision of its complaints and compliments policy and applied inconsistently. Moreover, this was contrary to this Service’s complaint handling code’s prohibition against the repairs obstructing access to or unreasonably delaying the landlord’s complaints procedure.
  4. After a final stage complaint escalation, the landlord then has 20 working days to respond to the complaint under its complaints and compliments policy and this Service’s complaint handling code. The resident escalated her complaint on 11 May 2022, and it issued its final stage response on 15 June 2022, 23 working days after the complaint was made. This 3-working-day delay and the above delay in responding to the resident’s stage one complaint were therefore unreasonable, and outside of the landlord’s policy and the code, causing her unnecessary additional time and trouble in progressing her complaints.
  5. The satisfactory resolution of the resident’s heating and hot water and shower complaints was not prevented by the landlord’s complaint handling failings, but the latter was unnecessarily protracted. This amounts to a failure, which it did not appropriately address in its complaints responses, or provide a remedy to her for. The landlord has therefore been ordered below to pay the resident £100 additional compensation in recognition of its poor complaint handling in her case, as well as recommended below to review its staff’s training needs regarding their application of its complaints and compliments policy and this Service’s complaint handling code.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 53(b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has offered redress to the resident prior to investigation which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint satisfactorily regarding its handling of:
    1. The repair to her heating and hot water system, and the subsequent offer of compensation for this.
    2. The repair to her shower, and the subsequent offer of compensation for this.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in its handling of the associated complaint.

Order and recommendations

  1. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident £100 additional compensation within four weeks for its failings in complaint handling.
  2. It is recommended that the landlord:
    1. Re-offer the resident the £650.90 compensation that it previously awarded her and the £50 goodwill gesture that its contractor previously awarded her, if she has not received these already.
    2. Contact the resident to re-request copies of her electricity bills from December 2021 to March 2022 and respond to her reimbursement request in line with its compensation and goodwill gestures policy, if it has not done so already.
    3. Review its staff’s training needs regarding their application of its complaints and compliments policy, and this Service’s complaint handling code at https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/landlords-info/complaint-handling-code/, in order to ensure that these are followed to prevent its complaint handling obstruction and delays in the resident’s case from occurring again in the future.
  3. The landlord shall contact this Service within four weeks to confirm that it has complied with the above order, and whether it will follow the above recommendations.