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Southwark Council (202106367)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202106367

Southwark Council

31 May 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 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 an overheating problem with the communal heating system.

Background and summary of events

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of a one bedroom bungalow and has been living at his home since March 2019.
  2. The property is supplied with heat and hot water from a district heating system. The resident says the property gets hot especially in the summer since the heating system remains on to supply the properties with hot water.
  3. On 15 September 2020, the resident sent an email to the landlord as well as his local councillor regarding excessive heat at his home. The resident said he would like to organise a residents meeting to discuss excessive heat. The resident said it was so hot that he was unable to work or socialise. He said he was unable to leave his dog in the house due to the heat. The resident said that the landlord should fix the heating or provide air conditioning at no expense to the residents. The resident requested that the landlord arrange for an environmental professional to do a report and inform him and the other residents of the outcome.
  4. On 17 September 2020, the landlord contacted the resident by phone and arranged a visit for the following day. The landlord treated the email sent by the resident as a complaint.
  5. Following the visit, the landlord carried out repairs on 7 October 2020 which were described in its stage one complaint response sent the next day. The landlord said the work carried out was “shut off the district, drained down the cylinder, removed the cylinder, changed both the heating and hot water three ports to two ports, changed the pipework, reinstalled the cylinder, lagged the pipework, turned on the districts, tested all working correctly.”
  6. However, the resident disputed that the repairs had been effective and said that he was still experiencing temperatures of around 33.5 degrees Celsius in his home. 
  7. On 8 October 2020, the resident contacted the landlord and said he was not happy that his complaint had been closed. He described the work done above as ‘minor works’ and said that further jobs were needed. The resident said he had been told that work in the boiler room would be done in the spring of 2021 and wanted formal confirmation from the landlord. The resident contacted the landlord again on 19 October to escalate his complaint and said that his flooring had been damaged by the heat. 
  8. On 26 October 2020, two operatives visited the resident’s property. The resident raised queries about the heating system but said that ‘the conversation changed from we can fix it to being lied to’. The resident later told the landlord that he had recorded the conversation, although the two operatives were unaware.
  9. This incident was investigated by the landlord as part of the stage two complaint process when the landlord said it would not consider the recordings since consent for the recording had not been granted. The landlord said the resident had become agitated when discussing a related insurance claim about damage to his flooring allegedly caused by the heating system.   
  10. In November 2020, the landlord attended the estate to check on possible leaks reported near an airing cupboard but did not go to the residents address due to the incident described above. The landlord said there would be delays to the installation of heat monitoring systems including in the resident’s property caused by Coronavirus restrictions.   
  11. On 9 December 2020, the landlord sent the resident a stage two complaint response. The landlord said that it had attempted to contact the resident to discuss the allegations about the two operatives during the visit in October but said that the resident had not given any further information. Internal records show that the landlord asked the operatives for statements about the incident, and in the stage two response it said it had ‘not been able to find any issues which would indicate that the information you were provided at the time was untrue.’ The landlord concluded since it had not received any further reports of excessive heat that the matter had been resolved and said that the resident could contact again if this was not the case.
  12. In March 2021, the resident contacted the landlord and queried whether work was being done in the boiler house as he had been told this was due to be done in the Spring and he was still experiencing excessive heat.
  13. On 1 August 2021, the resident contacted this service and clarified the outstanding issues of his complaint. The resident described the temperature in his home and of other residents using the same heating system as ‘unbearably hot’ and said the landlord should consider supplying air conditioning, velux windows or another method of cooling the properties down. The resident said ‘basically my home is unusable for 6 months.’

Assessment and findings

  1. The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 Act gives landlords an obligation to carry out basic repairs, including the structure and exterior of the property and installations for the supply of water, gas and electricity, sanitation and space heating and heating water.
  2. The landlord also has a responsibility under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, (HHSRS) introduced by The Housing Act 2004, to assess hazards and risks within its rented properties. ‘Excess heat’ is one of the 29 hazards listed in the Housing Health & Safety Rating System and can lead to increased risk of dehydration, stroke as well as cardiovascular and respiratory health issues. The Fitness for Human Habitation Act 2018 also includes an obligation for landlords to deal with excessive heat.
  3. Following the residents report of excessive heat in his home on 15 September 2020, the landlord contacted the resident and arranged an inspection. It then carried out remedial works on 7 October 2020 that the landlord said resolved the issue, although this is strongly disputed by the resident. These were reasonable and prompt actions indicating a willingness by the landlord to investigate and carry out works to the heating system. However, again the outcome of repairs is disputed and so the issue remains unresolved.
  4. The landlord’s complaints policy does not elaborate on its specific procedure for dealing with complaints or allegations made about members of staff. However, it was appropriate to contact the resident to participate in a discussion of what happened during the incident on 26 October 2020 when the resident said he was lied to by operatives of the landlord. The evidence available shows that the landlord followed a reasonable process for the investigation of that incident. 
  5. No evidence has been seen by this service that data loggers for the purpose of monitoring have now been installed by the landlord. Similarly, there has been a failure to keep the resident updated on developments regarding monitoring and improving the heating if necessary based on the findings.
  6. There is no conclusive evidence that there is or is not excessive heat at the resident’s address or the homes of other local residents supplied by the same heating system. In the absence of conclusive evidence and given the clear discomfort of the resident in his home, an order has been made for a survey by a heating specialist to be carried out and any recommendations shared by the landlord. This was in effect, what was asked for by the resident when he made contact in September 2020.

 Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident report of a faulty communal heating system.

Reasons

  1. The landlord investigated the residents reports and took some remedial actions in accordance with its repairs policy. However, the outcome of the repairs is disputed by the resident and the landlord has failed to fix the problem to the satisfaction of the resident or keep the resident updated on attempts to monitor the overheating issue. Due to the lack of conclusive evidence, an independent survey has been recommended as per the resident’s initial contact.

Orders

  1. It is ordered the landlord obtain an assessment of the heating system by a suitably qualified person and share the findings of the assessment with this service and the resident within twelve weeks.
  2. It is ordered that the landlord install data loggers for the purpose of monitoring heat and inform this service of the findings within twelve weeks.
  3. It is ordered that the landlord pay the resident £100 in recognition of the failure to resolve his complaint to date.