Peabody Trust (202317887)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202317887

Peabody Trust

28 February 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 resident’s complaint is about the landlord’s handling of gas leaks to her boiler.

Background

2. The property is a 3-bedroom house. The landlord is a housing association. The resident holds an assured non-shorthold tenancy and has lived in the property since December 2000. She lives with her daughter. The resident has reported limited mobility and mental health concerns. She has explained her limited mobility has affected her tolerance of cold temperatures.
3. Towards the end of August 2022 the landlord replaced the resident’s boiler after she experienced issues with her old boiler. The boiler initially did not work for a week and the resident did not have access to hot water. The resident’s account is that initially there was no boxing around the pipework and she accidentally hurt herself when she came into contact with the hot pipework, for which she had to contact the landlord. The landlord then came and installed boxing around September 2022. The resident did not raise any further complaint at the time.
4. Around May 2023 the resident experienced more issues with the boiler as she could not set separate timers for the heating and hot water. The landlord attended to resolve the issue later on. The resident did not raise any further reports or complaint at the time.
5. On 7 July 2023 the landlord’s gas engineer attended for a routine gas safety check. They found defects in the system, namely, a small gas leak on the boiler valve and another one around the gas meter. They completed remedial works on the same day, fitting and sealing the flues as well as renewing a bayonet fitting and a valve.
6. The resident complained about this on 26 July 2023. She set out her concerns that the boiler had not been safely installed from the beginning. She stated her view that the gas leak had been there since the landlord installed the boxing around the pipes around 9 months ago, and it was the landlord’s actions which caused the gas leak. She explained her view that she had seen a very significant increase in her gas bill since September 2022 to May 2023 by about £440 compared to the year before, which she believed was caused by the gas leaks. She estimated that she had further spent £160 from May to July 2023 on her gas bill which she also attributed to the gas leaks.
7. The landlord called the resident to discuss her complaint on 9 August 2023 and the parties agreed on an extension for the landlord to provide a stage 1 complaint response. The landlord subsequently sought an explanation from its engineers about whether the boxing was likely to have loosened the valves in any manner and whether the gas leaks were likely to have contributed to a higher than normal gas bill.
8. The landlord issued a stage 1 complaint response on 16 August 2023 summarised as follows:
   1. It had examined the gas certificate and spoke with the engineer who conducted the routine gas safety inspection.
   2. Although small leaks were detected at the time, the engineer found the amount of gas escaping was ‘minimal’, ‘within tolerable amounts’ for safety and would not have affected her gas bills in the way the resident described.
   3. The engineer found there was no safety risk at the time as the leaks were effectively dispersed by the flue.
   4. While the landlord appreciated that the resident had experienced distress due to her increased gas bills, having referred to the engineer’s advice, it could not attribute the increase in the resident’s gas bills to these gas leaks.
   5. It had re-sent a gas safety certificate to the resident for her reference.
   6. It advised the resident to keep the area around the gas meter clear to avoid any risk of knocks which could cause valves to loosen.
   7. It offered £150 to the resident in recognition of the time and trouble she had experienced due to delays in resolving the issues and the inconvenience caused by the landlord’s complaint handling.
   8. It would arrange a further appointment for its operative to examine and adjust the boxing around the pipework to ensure this was not affecting the valves in any way.
9. The resident remained dissatisfied and called the landlord around 22 August 2023 about this. The landlord repeated its explanations in the stage 1 response and further asked the resident to speak with her gas supplier if she felt the increase in her costs was disproportionate to her usage.
10. The landlord’s operative attended on 18 September 2023 to examine the boxing and ducting under the boiler. They confirmed the duct casing was not touching any pipes and there were no further works needed.
11. The resident asked for escalation of her complaint and the landlord issued a stage 2 complaint response on 6 November 2023, summarised as follows:
    1. It repeated that there was no reasonable basis to surmise the gas bill had experienced an increase attributable to the landlord’s own actions.
    2. It issued a general apology for the service failures that had caused the complaint to escalate.
    3. It had restructured its responsive repairs team by assigning them to smaller patches so each team could focus more on each home and better track progress of repairs.
    4. It increased its compensation offer to £250 in recognition of the time and trouble the resident had experienced, including failings in complaint handling.
12. The resident sought assistance from this Service in December 2023. She confirmed that while the gas leaks were fully resolved, she wished the landlord to accept responsibility for her increased gas bills which she believed was due to the gas leaks. She would also like the landlord to increase the compensation to fully reflect the financial loss to her and also the distress and anxiety this has caused her.

Assessment and findings

Relevant policies and guidance

13. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the landlord is responsible for maintaining any installations it has provided for heating rooms, water heating, gas and electricity. The resident’s tenancy agreement confirms this.
14. The landlord’s responsive repairs policy states that for any repairs that require a rapid response to safeguard the wellbeing of residents it will attend and complete these within 4 hours.
15. The landlord’s complaints policy provides for a two-stage complaints procedure. At stage 1, it should acknowledge the complaint within 5 working days and then respond to the complaint within 10 working days; at stage 2 (the final stage) it should respond within 20 working days. These timeframes mirror those set out in the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code), which member landlords are expected to adhere to.
16. The landlord’s compensation and remedies policy states it would consider paying compensation when a customer has experienced a delay or has incurred additional costs because of a service on its part, for example, a temporary use of utilities within the landlord’s control including heating, hot water, mains water and power. It may offer compensation up to £250 where it has identified a service failure has caused minor time, trouble and inconvenience to a resident.

The landlord’s handling of gas leaks to the boiler

17. The Ombudsman notes that the resident was very concerned about the gas leak and also her overall bills. Her concerns are understandable and we appreciate she has experienced distress and upset from these events.
18. The landlord has sought advice from qualified gas engineers on this issue. The testimony of the gas engineer who did the safety check at the time is that the gas leaks found at the time were minimal, within tolerance thresholds, and did not pose a safety risk, nor would they have caused the gas bill to increase in any significant way. Whilst we note that the resident believes the increase in her bills was due to the leak, it was reasonable for the landlord to seek advice from its engineer and to then rely on this.
19. The engineer identified the leaks during a routine safety check and took immediate action to rectify the leaks on the same day. This was in line with the landlord’s responsive repairs policy.
20. The resident’s view is that the gas leaks have existed for 9 months ever since the landlord installed boxing around the pipework. There is no factual evidence to support this view. The valves could have loosened at any point during this time due to other reasons, but there is no evidence to suggest the installation process was at fault. The landlord would have conducted a gas safety check when the boiler was installed around August 2022. The Ombudsman recommends that the landlord provide a copy of this to the resident for her reference.
21. While the Ombudsman can understand the increase in her gas bills must be very difficult for the resident, there is not sufficient evidence to suggest the gas leaks were the cause. Based on the available information, the gas leaks themselves could not be attributed to any service failing on the landlord’s part. There could be other causes for the increased gas bills such as rising energy costs in this period. The landlord should consider providing further advice or information to the resident on managing or reducing energy bills and a recommendation has been made below.
22. The landlord has conducted a further check for the boxing (or ducting) around the pipework and advised the resident to speak to her gas supplier, which is appropriate.
23. The landlord has recognised delays in resolving these issues and made a discretionary offer of £250 to the resident in recognition of the time and trouble she experienced and for failings related to complaint handling which is positive.
24. Overall, the Ombudsman finds no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of gas leaks to the boiler.

Determination

25. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the Ombudsman finds no maladministration in relation to how the landlord handled the gas leaks to the boiler.

Recommendations

26. The landlord should re-make the offer of £250 to the resident again and process the payment should the resident accept this.
27. The landlord should send the resident a copy of the gas safety record from the time when the boiler was installed around August 2022 solely for her checking.
28. The landlord should contact the resident and update her records to reflect her reported vulnerabilities including limited mobility and mental health issues, as well as any reasonable adjustments the resident may wish the landlord to consider in future communications.
29. The landlord should refer the resident to any appropriate energy specialist advice and energy bill grant or discount schemes it has at its disposal.