Sanctuary Housing Association (202444075)

Background

1. The resident reported a loss of heating and hot water on 28 November 2024 due to a boiler issue. She raised a complaint about a missed appointment, delays, poor communication, and reliance on insufficient temporary heaters that increased her electricity costs. The landlord completed the repairs to the boiler on 15 January 2025. The resident said the issues impacted her child’s health and caused significant distress.

What the complaint is about

2. The landlord’s handling of:
   1. The repairs to the boiler after the loss of heating and hot water.
   2. The associated complaint.

Our decision (determination)

3. The landlord made a reasonable offer of redress for its handling of repairs to the boiler.
4. There was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the complaint.

We have not made orders for the landlord to put things right.

Reasons

Repairs to the boiler after the loss of heating and hot water

5. After the resident reported loss of heating and hot water on 28 November 2024, a contractor attended within 24 hours and identified a failed boiler fan required replacement. Although the contractor ordered the part promptly, delivery delays meant the repair appointment was arranged for 4 December 2024.
6. The landlord appropriately advised the resident that it may need to discuss alternative accommodation for the resident and her family, however she wanted to remain in the property.
7. The landlord missed the repair appointment set for 4 December 2024, with the repair later completed on 10 December 2024.
8. Although heating was restored, the hot water failed again from 24 December 2024. The landlord determined that further repairs were not feasible due to obsolete parts and therefore approved a full boiler replacement on 3 January 2025. While we understand the need for a new boiler caused delays, the landlord is entitled to attempt to complete a repair in the first instance.
9. The landlord then arranged the installation of the boiler, but this was delayed due to scaffolding requirement for flue works. It completed the repair on 15 January 2025.
10. The landlord was aware that the resident had a young child, and so it would have been appropriate for it to have considered if it needed to offer any temporary solutions to the resident during that time. It has not provided evidence that it did so.
11. The tenancy agreement requires the landlord to maintain, and where appropriate keep in proper working order, any heating and water‑heating equipment it provides. The landlord’s emergency repairs policy requires attendance to make safe within 24 hours, which was met.
12. The resident had no heating and hot water from 28 November 2024 to 10 December 2024 a period of 13 calendar days. She then had no hot water from 24 December to 15 January 2025, a period of 23 calendar days.
13. As per the landlord’s compensation policy, it paid £3 a day for the lack of the heating and hot water which it detailed in its stage 2 response. The landlord also made awards for the temporary heaters and for the distress and inconvenience caused. This was reasonable and in line with its policy.
14. It is not disputed that there were issues and delays in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of the lack of heating and hot water. When there are failings by a landlord, as is the case here, we will consider whether the redress offered by the landlord put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. In considering this, we take into account whether the landlord’s offer of redress was in line with its own compensation policy, our dispute resolution principles and our remedies guidance.
15. Following a review of the relevant policies and principles, we have found that the landlord has made a reasonable offer of redress considering the circumstances of the case. This is because it provided the following:
    1. £250 for the distress and inconvenience caused, along with the delays, missed appointments and poor communication.
    2. £39 for the loss of heating – from 28 November 2024 to 10 December 2024, at £3 per day.
    3. £147 for the loss of hot water – from 28 November 2024 to 15 January 2025, at £3 per day.
    4. £130 paid on 11 December 2024 for the initial period of heater use, covering

28 November to 10 December 2024.

5. £360 paid on 6 February 2025 for the continued use of temporary heaters, covering 11 December 2024 to 15 January 2025.

16. Taking into account the duration of the delays and the inconvenience caused, the level of redress offered is broadly in line with our remedies guidance. The landlord recognised the error, apologised and made a proportionate offer. The total amount of £926 aligns with our remedies guidance for maladministration.

Complaint Handling

17. The landlord has a 2-stage complaints process, in keeping with our Complaint Handling Code (the Code). Its complaints policy says it will respond to stage 1 complaints within 10 working days. For stage 2 complaints, it will respond within 20 working days of the complaint being escalated.
18. The resident raised a formal complaint on 10 December 2024 due to the ongoing issues. The landlord acknowledged the complaint on 16 December 2024.
19. On 23 December 2024, the landlord notified the resident that it would not be able to provide its stage 1 complaint response in time and apologised for the inconvenience this would cause.
20. The landlord sent its stage 1 complaint response on 7 January 2025, 18 working days after the resident made her complaint. Although it sent its response outside the timeframes of its policy, it notified the resident that there would be a delay in its communication. It was reasonable to set the resident’s expectations on when they would receive a response.
21. It sent its stage 2 response on 1 February 2025, which was 19 working days after the resident’s escalation request. This was within its policy timeframe.
22. Although the landlord’s stage 1 response was sent outside the relevant timeframe, as it notified the resident accordingly, it likely did not have an adverse effect on the resident. Furthermore, the Code allows for an extension and details of our service were provided within the landlord’s extension request letter.  As a result, we make a finding of no maladministration.

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.

Recommendations

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