Orbit Housing Association Limited (202126257)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202126257

Orbit Housing Association Limited

14 December 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 resident’s reports of outstanding repairs to her boiler leaving her with a lack of heating and hot water, and the level of compensation that it offered her for this.

Background

  1. The resident is a tenant of the landlord of a house, and she has physical disabilities in the form of severe arthritis affecting her mobility, which the landlord recorded in its repair records and complaint responses, but not in its correspondence with this Service.
  2. The resident previously experienced historic intermittent issues with her heating and hot water at the property, as a result of the boiler losing pressure and leaking, from 2018 to February 2021, when this was drained, sealed, refilled, and fitted with new parts.
  3. Following the above works, the resident reported to the landlord on 2 September 2021 that she had experienced a total loss of hot water at her property, with very low boiler pressure and loud noises, which it attended on the same day to restore by refilling, airing and testing the system. It then carried out the annual service and gas safety inspection of the boiler on 8 November 2021, which found no further faults with this. On 4 January 2022, however, the resident informed the landlord that there was further low pressure to the boiler that was continuing to drop but not yet leaking, for which she had to constantly run upstairs to turn this back on, and it advised her not to turn or attempt to alter the pressure on that date and 12 January 2022.
  4. The landlord subsequently re-attended the resident’s boiler on 13 January 2022, when she experienced a total gas heating failure and told it that she had health and safety concerns from the condition of the boiler that she was unable to reset, for which it carried out works and ordered replacement parts on that date. It then responded to her lack of heating on 20 January 2022 by dropping off two fan heaters at her property on that date, after which it was unable to gain access to fit replacement boiler parts on 21 January 2022 and left her a no access card. The resident went on to make a stage one complaint to the landlord on 21 and 22 February 2022 about its service, her lack of hot water and heating, and the safety of her boiler.
  5. The landlord replied to the resident’s stage one complaint on 22 February 2022 by confirming that its investigations and records, including of its 8 November 2021 annual boiler service and gas safety inspection, had shown no safety concerns that she attributed to the engineer who had attended on 13 January 2022. It also responded to its previous lack of access to her property to fit replacement boiler parts by scheduling a new appointment to do so on 25 February 2022, and it partially upheld her complaint for the need for the parts and her lack of heating and hot water.
  6. The landlord therefore awarded the resident £300 total compensation, consisting of £270 for her being without heating and hot water, at the rate of £3.75 per day, plus £30 for the failings in its service. She subsequently contacted this Service, however, to report that it had missed its new appointment to fit replacement parts to her boiler, and to reiterate her concerns about the safety of this, about which we asked it to contact her, and it took a final stage complaint from her on 9 March 2022.
  7. The resident complained about the level of compensation for the delay in repairing her boiler, the time and trouble spent trying to resolve this with the landlord, and her distress and inconvenience. She added that it had left her with a potentially dangerous boiler after eight attendances that should have been replaced in 2021, that it had missed appointments to fit parts to this on 21 January, 25 February and 7 March 2022, and that it had increased her fuel bills by using temporary fan heaters.
  8. The landlord went on to re-attend the resident’s boiler to carry out further works on 16 March 2022, to pre-inspect and risk assess this on 21 March 2022, and to replace the boiler on 28 March 2022. Its subsequently extended final stage complaint response to her of 11 May 2022 upheld her complaint, for it cancelling the job and making no further attempts to do the work after its lack of access to do so on 21 January 2022, which contributed to the delays in resolving the issue. The landlord therefore offered £837.50 total compensation to the resident for this, broken down as follows:
    1. £221.25 for when she had a partial loss of heating;
    2. £221.25 for when she had a partial loss of hot water;
    3. £70 for the service failings identified;
    4. £25 for its complaint handling delays;
    5. £300 as previously offered in its stage one complaint response for when she had no heating and hot water.
  9. The resident then complained to this Service, as she remained unhappy with the amount of compensation offered to her by the landlord. She also believed that the boiler had been dangerous and should have been replaced in 2021, for which she sought further compensation, as well as for the difficulties that she faced given her disability and its missed appointments.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. It is of concern that the resident has referred to previous historic issues that she experienced with her boiler. Although these have therefore been mentioned in this report to provide context to her complaint and to consider the distress and inconvenience that she would have been caused by experiencing further problems with the boiler, an assessment of past incidents prior to September 2021 is outside the scope of this investigation. This is because the landlord was not given the opportunity to try and resolve the earlier incidents through its formal complaints procedure at the time, or a within a reasonable period of normally within six months of them arising, as it instead received a stage one boiler complaint in February 2022.

Agreement, policies and procedures

  1. In accordance with its responsive repairs policy, the landlord is obliged to attend emergency repairs within up to 24 hours, including any repairs required in order to sustain the immediate health and safety of the resident, and routine repairs within 28 calendar days. Her tenancy agreement obliges it to keep the installations provided by it for heating and hot water in good repair.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s outstanding boiler repairs and the level of compensation that it offered her

  1. The landlord, in line with its responsive repairs policy and the resident’s tenancy agreement, was required to respond to her loss of heating and hot water as an emergency within 24 hours. It was therefore appropriate that it responded to her reports of a total loss of heating on 2 September 2021 by attending this on the same day, when it restored this by refilling, airing and testing the boiler system. The resident’s boiler was then serviced and received an annual gas safety inspection on 8 November 2021, with no further faults identified.
  2. Nevertheless, it would have been understandable that the vulnerable resident would have experienced particular distress and inconvenience, given the previous issues with her boiler, when she reported a loss of boiler pressure to the landlord on 4 and 12 January 2022, and a total loss of heating with health and safety concerns on 13 January 2022. She was therefore advised by the landlord not to turn or alter the pressure on the former dates, and this was attended by it as an emergency repair on the latter date. This was attended by the landlord within its responsive repairs policy’s 24-hour timescale, but it required new parts to remedy this, and it was unable to access the property to fit these on 21 January 2022.
  3. While it was appropriate that the landlord left the resident a no access card on 21 January 2022, it was unreasonable that it then only offered her a new appointment to fit the replacement boiler parts on 25 February 2022, and that she had to make a stage one complaint to it on 22 February 2022 to obtain this. Although it was appropriate that it left her two fan heaters for her lack of heating on 20 January 2022. It is nevertheless concerning that the resident was without such heaters between 13 and 20 January 2022 after she had reported a total loss of heating, and that she reported that the landlord’s subsequent appointments to fit new boiler parts to remedy this were missed by it on 21 January, 25 February and 7 March 2022.
  4. This was especially inappropriate because the landlord only subsequently carried out further boiler works, pre-inspected and risk assessed this, and replaced the boiler on 16, 21 and 28 March 2022, respectively, after the resident contacted this Service and made a final stage complaint on 9 March 2022. This would have caused considerable distress and inconvenience to her, both from the lack of heating and of hot water, and the numerous missed appointments and further attendances to try and resolve this, particularly given her health and safety concerns about the boiler. This was further exacerbated by the fact that the boiler issues occurred during the winter months, as well as by the resident being vulnerable due to her disability. 
  5. When failings are identified, this Service’s role is to consider whether the redress offered by the landlord has put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in all the circumstances of her case. This is in accordance with our dispute resolution principles to be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
  6. In this case, the landlord attempted to put things right by acknowledging that the resident intermittently had no and partial heating and hot water for the period between 13 January and 28 March 2022, as well as by investigating her health and safety concerns about the condition of her boiler. It did so appropriately by looking for evidence of the latter to substantiate her concerns in its repair records, as well as the annual boiler service and gas safety check on 8 November 2021 that had come back clear, and by confirming to her that these had shown no safety concerns.
  7. The landlord’s repair delays, and its apparent delay in providing temporary fan heaters to the resident one week later with no alternative heating source in the meantime, also ought to have been learnt from by it. These being of particular concern in this case due to her disability. It has therefore been recommended below that the landlord review its staff’s and contractors’ training needs in relation to providing timely emergency heating and hot water repairs and alternatives, to ensure that they provide these promptly in every case, and especially to vulnerable residents in the winter and during cold weather. 
  8. The landlord’s final stage complaint also sought to reflect its failings and the timeframe that the resident was left without suitable heating and hot water at her property with a proportionate level of compensation. It did so by offering her a total of £837.50. This figure included £712.50 for her being left without any or with partial heating and hot water at the rate of £3.75 per day each, which would have amounted to £555 for the 74 days that she actually experienced boiler problems between 13 January and 28 March 2022. The amount offered by the landlord therefore exceeded the timeframe that the resident had spent without any or with only partial heating and hot water. It also looked to put right its service failings and complaint handling delays with a further £125 compensation.
  9. The landlord was not required to exceed these amounts by its compensation policy and procedure, and they were also fair and proportionate to the recognise the resident’s distress, inconvenience, time and trouble from her complaint, and to remedy its failures, in line with this Service’s remedies guidance. The latter suggests awards from £600 in cases where there was a failure that had a significant physical and/or emotional impact upon the resident, and where the redress needed to put things right is substantial.
  10. The fact that the landlord also offered the resident a higher level of total compensation for having partial or no heating or hot water than its daily rate for the loss of these facilities meant that this award was additionally proportionate to recognise her other difficulties as a result of being without these. This is because it was appropriate that she was offered more than its daily rate of compensation, as she reported that she had experienced increased fuel bills from having to using temporary fan heaters due to the lack of heating and hot water, as well as experiencing further difficulties from this as a consequence of her disability.
  11. As a result, the landlord has been recommended below to re-offer the resident the £837.50 compensation that it previously awarded her, if she has not received this already. It is nevertheless of concern that it did not inform this Service of her vulnerabilities in its correspondence with us, despite our request to it for this. Although the landlord did provide us with its repair records and complaint correspondence with the resident that referred to these. It has therefore also been recommended below to review its record keeping processes for recording residents’ vulnerabilities, to ensure that these are clearly indicated to its staff and contractors, and in its relevant external communications, in every case.

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 about its handling of her reports of outstanding repairs to her boiler leaving her with a lack of heating and hot water, and the level of compensation that it offered her for this, satisfactorily.

Recommendations

  1. It is recommended that the landlord:
    1. Re-offer the resident the £837.50 compensation that it previously awarded her, if she has not received this already.
    2. Review its staff’s and contractors’ training needs in relation to providing timely emergency heating and hot water repairs and alternatives, to ensure that these are provided promptly in every case, and especially to vulnerable residents in the winter and during cold weather.
    3. Review its record keeping processes for recording residents’ vulnerabilities, to ensure that these are clearly indicated to its staff and contractors, and in its relevant external communications, in every case.