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Southwark Council (202348534)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202348534

Southwark Council

21 August 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 response to the resident’s requests for compensation for the period when her home had no heating or hot water.
  2. The Ombudsman has also assessed the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord. She has lived in her 2 bedroom flat since September 2013. Her heating and hot water are provided by a district heating system.
  2. On 27 March 2023 the resident reported that she did not have heating or hot water. The landlord attended the same day. It provided the resident with temporary heaters as it needed to order parts to complete the remedial works to resolve the issue.
  3. The resident made a complaint on 26 April 2023. She said she had been staying at her sister’s home while waiting for the works to be completed. She explained this was because the temporary heaters that she was provided were too expensive to run. She asked to be compensated.
  1. On 25 July 2023 the landlord issued its stage 1 response. It said the part had been delivered and it would carry out the remedial works on 9 August 2023. It explained that once the works were completed it would compensate the resident in line with its compensation policy.
  1. On 15 December 2023 the resident escalated her complaint. She said:
    1. she was “out of pocket for so long” and “struggled” to stay at home. She stayed at her mother’s house for 3 months while she had no heating and hot water. She was registered disabled, and her daughter was her carer.
    2. she had tried to contact the landlord “many” times about her complaint, but she did not receive a response.
  2. The landlord issued its stage 2 response on 31 January 2024. It said:
    1. works were completed on 9 August 2023.
    2. it had compensated the resident £372. Comprised of:
      1. £207 for the use of temporary heating between 27 March 2023 and 6 June 2023 (when the heating turned off).
      2. £100 for no heating and hot water for 10 weeks.
      3. £65 forno heating and water for 13 weeks.
  3. The resident referred her complaint to this Service because she remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s final response. She said that she was left “out of pocket” as she had to stay with friends and family for the months that she was without heating and hot water. She asked that the landlord adequately pay for her financial loss.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

  1. The resident has told this Service that the landlord told her that it would support her with making a claim for her damaged personal belongings caused by its contractors when it tried to resolve the issues in this complaint. She said however, it did not do so. While acknowledged, the scope of this investigation is limited to the issues raised during the resident’s formal complaint that she referred to this Service for investigation. Any new issues that have not been subject to a formal complaint can be addressed directly with the landlord and progressed as a new formal complaint if required.
  2. The landlord’s compensation policy states for residents that are on a district heating system, it would:
    1. pay £3 per day for everyday a resident is without heating and hot water. The payment includes reasonable costs incurred by residents in relation to additional electricity usage. The compensation would be added to the resident’s rent account or service charge account.
    2. it would compensate residents for distress/delays caused by the following categories:
      1. £5 per week for low impact.
      2. £10 per week for medium impact.
      3. £20 per week for major impact.
    3. it said distress could include stress, anxiety, frustration, uncertainty, and inconvenience. It said it should take into account the severity, length of time “suffered” and vulnerability.
  3. At the time of the complaint, the landlord’s complaint policy stated that it would:
    1. address the issues raised.
    2. explain the basic policy/procedure or level of service that it provides.
    3. update the complainant at each step of the way and advise them of any delay in completing the actions.
    4. respond to stage 1 complaints within 15 working days and respond to stage 2 complaints within 20 working days.
  4. In its stage 1 response, the landlord explained that it would pay the resident compensation in line with its policy once the remedial works were completed. While this was reasonable, its assurance and the explanation provided did not go far enough. In the circumstances, it would have been appropriate to provide more detail about the type of compensation the resident would be entitled to, with reference to its policy. In not doing so, the landlord missed an opportunity to manage the resident’s expectations.
  5. In her escalated complaint the resident explained that she was “out of pocket” when she did not have hot water or heating. While the landlord explained that it had compensated the resident in its stage 2 response, it did not address her specific concerns that she was “out of pocket”. It would have been reasonable for the landlord to have contacted the resident to discuss her concerns and to obtain more information about the losses she had incurred. The landlord did not engage fully with the resident’s concerns, and this caused her further distress and inconvenience.
  6. It is noted that the landlord said that it had compensated the resident £100 for not having heating or hot water for 10 weeks and £65 for no heating and water for 13 weeks. This suggests that the landlord considered its policy and awarded compensation for medium and low impact while calculating the offer. This was reasonable and went some way to putting things right. However, because it did not explain what categories it used to calculate the compensation and what factors it took into account – for example whether the resident’s comments around her disability were considered, it missed the opportunity to be transparent. As a result, it has also not demonstrated to the resident, or us, that its compensation offer was reasonable and proportionate.
  7. Given the highlighted failings, we have found that there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s requests for compensation for the period when her home had no heating or hot water. While an offer was made by the landlord, which appears broadly in line with its policy, we have not seen evidence that the landlord took into consideration the resident’s specific circumstances and exercised its discretion to make an offer that was fair in all of the circumstances. A series of orders have therefore been made to put matters right for the resident.

The landlord’s complaint handling

  1. The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 25 July 2023. This was approximately 3 months after the resident had made her complaint. This was a significant deviation from its policy response timescales of 15 working days.
  2. It is noted that the landlord apologised for the delay in resolving the substantive issue in May 2023. However, there is no evidence to show that during the same period it discussed or explained that its stage 1 response would be delayed with the resident. This meant that the resident did not know when she would receive a response to her complaint. That was unreasonable.
  3. It is noted that the landlord may have delayed its response so it could first confirm that its contractor had arranged the remedial works before responding. If this was the case, we would expect the landlord to reasonably explain this to the resident so she could be fully informed as to when she would expect its response. It is noted that the landlord’s stage 2 response was also delayed.
  4. Furthermore, the Complaint Handling Code (the Code)states that a complaint response must be sent to the resident when the answer to the complaint is known, not when the outstanding actions required to address the issue are completed. Outstanding actions must still be tracked and dealt with promptly with regular updates provided to the resident.
  5. Therefore, once the landlord knew its contractors had ordered the part to resolve the matter, it would have reasonable for it to have issued its stage 1 response and monitored the matter as per its policy. In particular as the crux of the complaint was about the cost of the temporary heaters and the resident being unable to stay at her home while she waited for the repairs to be resolved.
  6. In her escalated complaint, the resident stated that she had tried to contact the landlord several times about her complaint, but it did not respond. However, the landlord failed to address this. That was a further failing and not in accordance with the Code that states landlords must address all aspects of a complaint.
  7. Given these failings we have found maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling. A series of orders have been made to put matters right for the resident.
  1. At the time of the complaint the landlord’s stage 1 response timescales did not align with the Code. However, the landlord has since revised its timescales, and its new policy now aligns with the Code. Therefore, no orders have been made in relation to this matter.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s requests for compensation for the period when her home had no heating or hot water.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this determination the landlord must:
    1. apologise to the resident for the failings highlighted by this investigation.
    2. pay £300 compensation directly to the resident. This is comprised of:
      1. £150 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of her concerns about the increased costs of her requests for compensation for the period when her home had no heating or hot water.
      2. £150 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its complaint handling failures.
    3. review its offer of compensation. In doing so it should:
      1. contact the resident to discuss her concerns that she was “out of pocket” while she was without heating and hot water. It should reasonably consider her concerns in line with its compensation policy.
      2. consider the impact of the loss of heating and hot water on the resident with reference to her specific circumstances.
      3. provide the resident and this Service with an outcome of the review. Any additional compensation should be paid directly to the resident.
    4. remind staff to respond to all aspects of a complaint in accordance with the Code.