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Sage Rented Limited (202344731)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202344731

Sage Rented Limited (SRL)

9 September 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:
    1. Redress for the resident’s hot water issues from 22 July 2023 to 26 November 2023.
    2. The resident’s complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the property, a 3-bedroom house owned by the landlord. It was a new build property, and her tenancy started in October 2022. She lives with her husband, who is a joint tenant, and her 2 children.
  2. The resident reported having no hot water to the landlord on 11 June 2023. She said there was a fault with her water heater. It gave her advice about fixing the issue. It closed the repair ticket on 21 July 2023 due to no further response from her. She reported further hot water issues to the landlord on 27 November 2023.
  3. The resident complained to the landlord on 22 December 2023 about the ongoing hot water repairs.
  4. The landlord sent its stage 1 response to the resident on 29 January 2024. It acknowledged repair delays from 27 November 2023 up to its complaint response. It offered a total of £820 for the failings. This included compensation for unsuccessful repair appointments, lack of communication, increased utility bills and stress and inconvenience. It did not offer compensation for the resident’s hot water issues from June 2023. It said this was because the property was covered by the defects period and it was not liable for the repair. It confirmed a new repair appointment for 29 January 2024.
  5. The resident escalated her complaint on 2 February 2024. She was unhappy that the issues with her hot water were still ongoing.
  6. The landlord sent its stage 2 response on 20 March 2024. It offered an additional £100 for distress and inconvenience because the repair it arranged for 29 January 2024 did not resolve the issue. It confirmed a new repair appointment of 8 April 2024. It also offered an additional £495 compensation for the resident’s ongoing hot water issues and increased electricity costs. This additional offer covered the period from its stage 1 response to the new repair date. It also covered the period from 18 June 2023 to 21 July 2023, which it did not previously consider in its stage 1 response.
  7. The landlord’s total offer of compensation across both responses was £1,415. It did not offer compensation for the period from 22 July 2023 to 26 November 2023.
  8. The resident remained unhappy with the landlord’s decision and asked us to investigate. She said to put matters right she wants it to compensate her for the period from 22 July 2023 to 26 November 2023.

Assessment and findings

  1. The landlord did not offer compensation to the resident for the period from 22 July 2023 to 26 November 2023. It said this was because there was no evidence she contacted it after the repair ticket was closed on 21 July 2023. It said she did not make it aware of any further hot water issues until 27 November 2023.
  2. The resident first reported a fault with her water heater on 11 June 2023. The landlord’s repairs policy says it will commence and complete work within 28 calendar days. Between 23 June 2023 and 06 July 2023, it gave various advice and steps for her to take to rectify the issue. This was reasonable and in line with its repairs policy timescale.
  3. On 17 July 2023 the landlord asked the resident if it had resolved the issue or it remained outstanding. On 20 July 2023 it asked her again if there was still an issue or if it could close the repair. She did not respond, so it closed the repair on 21 July 2023. It was reasonable for it to do so as it made efforts to contact her. The resident said she did not receive these messages. We are unable to determine whether she received the messages. However, the landlord provided evidence of its contact attempts which were fair in the circumstances.
  4. The resident contacted the landlord about another issue on 17 July 2023. It said she did not raise any issues about her hot water during this call. We have not seen evidence of this call, so we are unable to determine what the resident discussed with the landlord. It would be reasonable for it to keep records of its communication with residents as part of good record keeping.
  5. The new-build warranty for the property expired on 28 July 2023. In accordance with its defect procedure, the landlord arranged an end of defect inspection for 7 August 2023. It communicated this to the resident on 6 July 2023. On 12 and 14 July 2023 she contacted it about the time for this inspection. She raised no hot water issues in this communication. The landlord told her it could not call prior to the visit but said it would visit before midday, which was reasonable after her request.
  6. The end of defect inspection was unsuccessful as the landlord said there was no response from the resident when it attended. The resident disputes this. In the absence of evidence, we are unable to determine why this was an unsuccessful appointment.
  7. The landlord said it acted in accordance with its defect’s procedure. Following the unsuccessful inspection, it says it would have left a note for the resident to say it missed her and an email address for her to send a defect list. However, it has not provided evidence of doing this. As such, we are unable to assess whether its actions following the unsuccessful appointment were reasonable.
  8. We have not seen any evidence the resident contacted the landlord prior to 27 November 2023 regarding any follow up to the end of defect inspection. The resident contacted the landlord on 20 November 2023 about an unrelated matter. However, she did not mention any problems with her hot water. Therefore, it was reasonable the landlord did not log any repairs for the hot water system.
  9. As part of the landlord’s complaint investigation, it searched call records from 22 July 2023 to 26 November 2023. It found no evidence of contact from the resident during this time. It also asked her to confirm any alternative numbers she may have called from, which was reasonable.
  10. The resident told us she does not have evidence of the calls made or emails sent during this period. The landlord provided evidence showing it thoroughly investigated whether she reported any hot water issues between 22 July and 26 November 2023. Overall, its record keeping is of a good standard, and it evidenced other communications. In view of this, the landlord’s actions were reasonable and its decision not to award further compensation for this period was fair. This leads to a determination of no maladministration in its handling of redress for the resident’s hot water issues from 22 July 2023 to 26 November 2023.

The resident’s complaint

  1. The management of the resident’s tenancy changed after her stage 1 complaint from the managing agent to the current landlord. For the purposes of this report, we have referred to both parties as the landlord.
  2. The landlord has a 2-stage complaints process which says it must respond at stage 1 within 10 working days and at stage 2 within 20 working days. It must also acknowledge complaints within 5 working days. If it requires further investigation, it will contact the resident to confirm an estimated time. This will not exceed a further 10 working days at stage 1 and 20 working days at stage 2.
  3. The resident complained to the landlord on 22 December 2023. It acknowledged this as a stage 1 complaint on 9 January 2024. This was inappropriate and not in line with its complaints policy timescale.
  4. In its stage 1 acknowledgement, the landlord said it would update the resident by 23 January 2024. In accordance with its policy, it agreed an additional 10 working days to respond on 17 January 2024. It sent its stage 1 complaint response on 29 January 2024. This was reasonable and in line with the extension communicated and agreed.
  5. The resident asked to escalate her complaint on 2 February 2024. The landlord acknowledged this the same day, which was appropriate.
  6. The landlord sent its stage 2 complaint response on 20 March 2024. This was 33 working days after its stage 2 acknowledgement. It contacted the resident on 11 March and 18 March 2024 to apologise for the delay and confirm a new timescale. However, when it initially contacted the resident on 11 March 2024 it was already 6 days over its complaint response timescale. There was no evidence it contacted her before this. This was poor communication and not in line with its policy. It would have been reasonable for it to acknowledge this in its complaint response.
  7. In view of the delay and poor communication with the landlord’s stage 2 response, we found service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling. We have ordered the landlord to pay £50 compensation. This award is in keeping with our remedies guidance where we have found service failures that have caused time and trouble to a resident over a short duration.

 

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of redress for the resident’s hot water issues from 22 July 2023 to 26 November 2023.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

Orders

  1. We order the landlord to pay the resident £50 compensation for the failure identified in its complaint handling. This sum should be paid to her direct and not offset against any arrears where they exist.
  2. The landlord must provide evidence it has complied with the above order within 4 weeks of this determination.