Peabody Trust (202444535)

Background

1. The resident lives in a block of flats. After a fire alarm sounded in November 2024, she evacuated her flat and waited for the fire brigade to attend. When no one attended, she contacted the landlord. The landlord said the fire brigade did not attend because it had not paid its bill. This caused the resident to have serious concerns about fire safety in the building.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
   1. Fire safety concerns.
   2. Associated complaint.

Our decision (determination)

3. There was:
   1. Service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s fire safety concerns.
   2. Reasonable redress in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

We have made orders for the landlord to put things right.

Reasons

The landlord’s handling of fire safety concerns

4. The landlord must comply with fire safety legislation by carrying out and regularly reviewing fire risk assessments, taking identified fire precautions, and maintaining fire safety systems to keep residents safe. It is responsible for managing evacuation arrangements, addressing fire safety risks promptly, and working with local fire brigades. However, it has no obligation or responsibility to provide an automatic remote connection (ARC) between its fire alarm systems and the fire brigade.
5. In the landlord’s complaint responses, it confirmed that the resident’s building does not have an ARC. It also apologised for previously providing incorrect information in November 2024 by telling the resident that it did, which would’ve likely caused her concern and distress.
6. Although 2 fire safety assessments in November 2024 and February 2025 suggested an ARC was in place, the landlord later clarified this was incorrect and confirmed with its fire safety team that no ARC existed. As there is no requirement for an ARC and no evidence the building has ever had one, we are satisfied the landlord provided accurate information in response to the complaint.
7. The landlord made no offer of compensation for the misinformation and the evident distress this caused the resident, which is a service failure. We have therefore ordered it to pay £100 compensation for the failure it did not appropriately acknowledge in its complaint responses.

The landlord’s handling of the associated complaint

8. The landlord operates a 2-stage complaints process. Its complaints policy says it will issue its stage 1 response within 10 working days and its stage 2 response within 20 working days. The policy also says it will acknowledge complaints at both stages within 5 working days.
9. The landlord received the resident’s complaint on 27 November 2024 but acknowledged it 9 days beyond its 5-working-day timescale. It then issued its stage 1 response just under 9 months beyond its 10-working-day timescale. The delayed responses would have caused the resident significant concern given the nature of the complaint.
10. In the landlord’s stage 1 response, it apologised for the delay and offered £140 compensation in line with our compensation guidance.
11. The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 on 6 August 2025. The landlord did not acknowledge the escalation until 11 days beyond its 5-working-day timescale. While it exceeded the 20‑working‑day response timescale by 22 days, it requested and received the resident’s agreement to extend the deadline to 26 September 2025. The stage 2 response was issued on 19 September 2025, within the agreed extension.
12. At stage 2, the landlord maintained its original £140 compensation offer and made a further £160 compensation offer for the impact of the stage 1 delay. The total £300 compensation was reasonable and in line with our compensation guidance for distress, inconvenience, and delays.

Putting things right

Where we find service failure, maladministration or severe maladministration we can make orders for the landlord to put things right. We have the discretion to make recommendations in all other cases within our jurisdiction.

Orders

Landlords must comply with our orders in the manner and timescales we specify. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of compliance with our orders by the due date set.

Recommendations

Our recommendations are not binding, and a landlord may decide not to follow them.

Learning

Record keeping

13. The landlord’s fire safety assessments were unclear on 2 occasions about whether an ARC is present in the building, which may have contributed to the resident’s concerns. The landlord should review how it ensures its records are accurate and sufficiently detailed.