Southwark Council (202428472)

Decision
Case ID	202428472
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	Southwark Council
Landlord type	Local Authority / ALMO or TMO
Occupancy	Secure Tenancy
Date	21 November 2025

Background

The resident’s property is a converted maisonette, and the landing is split level. She complained the heating on the landing area was inadequate.

What the complaint is about

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
1. Concerns about her heating.
2. Complaint.

Our decision (determination)

We found:
1. Service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s concerns about her heating.
2. Service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

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

Summary of reasons

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s concerns about her heating

The landlord’s communication with the resident was poor. It acknowledged this and offered compensation which was not proportionate to its failings.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint

The landlord did not acknowledge the resident’s initial complaint as a stage 1. There was also a delay in its stage 2 response.

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.

Order	What the landlord must do	Due date
1	Apology order The landlord must apologise in writing to the resident for the failures identified in this report. The landlord must ensure: The apology is provided by a manager. The apology is specific to the failures identified in this decision, meaningful and empathetic. It has due regard to our apologies guidance.	No later than 19 December 2025
2	Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident £150 made up as follows: £100 to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of the resident’s heating concerns. This includes an additional £50 to that offered at stage 1. £50 to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of the resident’s complaint. This must be paid directly to the resident by the due date. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of payment by the due date. The landlord may deduct from the total figure any payments it has already paid.	No later than 19 December 2025
3	Further information order The landlord must provide the resident with copies of its heat loss surveys and heat calculation tests related to this complaint.	No later than 19 December 2025

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
5 October 2023	The resident complained to the landlord. She said it did a heating survey and told her it would install 2 new radiators. She was unhappy it did not fit her new radiators and failed to get back to her.
24 November 2023	The landlord did not respond to the resident’s complaint so she re-sent it. She also said it told her its previous report was not available, and it needed to complete another survey. She was unhappy with the second survey which she said measured differently and excluded downstairs. She was unhappy it found the size of her radiator was satisfactory and it said any additional work would be an upgrade.
28 November 2023	The resident complained via the landlord’s webform. She was unhappy the landlord did not install the radiators it said it would after its first inspection. She said its initial survey measured both hallway areas to fit a radiator on her top landing and replace her current bottom landing radiator with a bigger one. She said its surveyor showed her the areas where the pipework would go but when she chased the outstanding work, it told her due to an error it would need to complete another inspection. She was unhappy with the second survey’s measurements and outcome and the landlord’s decision not to install new radiators.
28 November 2023	The landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint and said it would respond by 12 December 2023.
11 December 2023	The landlord sent its stage 1 response. It said its contractor attended on 9 November 2023 and found the resident did not need any additional or larger radiators. It said because of this survey, it would not fit any further radiators. It said it also attended on 26 October 2023 where it vented and bled the radiator and left it working with good boiler pressure levels. It acknowledged it did not get back to the resident following its assessment in December 2022 and offered her £50 compensation for the time and trouble this caused her.
12 December 2023	The resident escalated her complaint. She was unhappy and referred the landlord to her previous complaint information. She said it initially measured her first radiator on the bottom landing for resizing and it measured the top landing to install a radiator. The landlord acknowledged her complaint escalation the same day and said it would respond by 12 January 2024.
17 January 2024	The landlord sent its stage 2 response. It upheld its stage 1 response and repeated the outcome of its survey from 9 November 2023, which found she did not need larger or additional radiators. It said it attended again on 19 December 2023 following her report of radiator noise but found no noise and left it working.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident remained unhappy and asked us to investigate. She wanted the landlord to install the radiators which she said it initially promised and to compensate for the inconvenience it caused her. She said the landing radiator, was too small and was the same size as her bathroom radiator which was in a smaller space. She said the landing heating was insufficient.

What we found and why

The circumstances of this complaint are well known by the parties involved, so it is not necessary to detail everything that’s happened or comment on all the information we’ve reviewed. We’ve only included the key information that forms the basis of our decision of whether the landlord is responsible for maladministration.

Complaint	The landlord’s handling of the resident’s concerns about her heating
Finding	Service failure

The landlord completed a heat loss survey for the resident’s hallway on 1 December 2022 and 19 March 2023. We have not seen these reports, and the outcome was not in the landlord’s repair records, which is poor record keeping.
In March and September 2023, the resident contacted the landlord to chase the outstanding work from its survey. The landlord did not respond to the resident, which was unreasonable.
The resident contacted the landlord about the outstanding work twice in October 2023. It arranged another survey on 16 October 2023. The resident said it told her it did not have a record of its previous survey.
The October 2023 survey found the resident’s radiator was correctly sized and said it was oversized. It completed a heat calculation test and found she did not need any additional radiators. In its stage 2 response the landlord said there was no issue with the sizing or number of radiators, and it would not install more. The resident remained unhappy because she said the second surveyor measured and calculated differently to the first. However, it was reasonable for the landlord to rely on the advice of its surveyor, and we would not order it to fit any additional radiators or complete a survey differently.
The landlord’s communication was poor, which caused the resident time and trouble contacting it. We found service failure in its handling of the resident’s heating concerns. In its stage 1 complaint response, it accepted it did not complete the follow-on work from its assessment in December 2022. It accepted she chased it on several occasions. The landlord’s compensation policy recommends a minimum of £50 compensation for this capped at £250 and factors to consider when assessing. It offered the resident £50 compensation for her time and trouble. We have ordered the landlord to pay the resident an additional £50 compensation, which is proportionate to the length of time of its poor communication and any trouble caused.
The resident told us she requested a copy of the landlord’s surveys and heat loss calculations, but it has not sent these. We have made an order for the landlord to send her a copy.

Complaint	The landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint
Finding	Service failure

The landlord’s complaints policy said it would respond within 15 working days at the complaint phase and 25 working days at the review phase. This was not compliant with our complaint handling code (‘the Code’) in use at the time. For the purposes of this assessment, we have assessed against our former Code which was applicable at the time.
The landlord sent its stage 1 complaint response within 10 working days of logging the resident’s complaint, which was in line with the Code. However, she initially complained by email on 5 October 2023, but it failed to acknowledge her complaint at stage 1. This was not in line with the Code or its complaints policy which said it accepted complaints by email. This caused the resident time and trouble complaining again on 24 and 28 November 2023.
The landlord sent its stage 2 response 23 working days after the resident’s escalation request. This was not compliant with the Code which said landlords must respond within 20 working days of the complaint escalation unless it agreed an extension. The 3 working day delay was unlikely to have any significant impact or detriment to the resident, but its response was also not in line with the timescale it gave in its acknowledgement.
Due to the above failings and the landlord’s failure to acknowledge this in its complaint responses, we found service failure in its handling of the resident’s complaint. We have ordered the landlord to pay the resident £50 compensation, which is in keeping with our remedies guidance for service failures over a short duration.
We have not ordered the landlord to review its complaints policy because its updated policy is compliant with the current Code.

Learning

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

The landlord’s repair records were unclear. Its complaint response and repair records referred to a survey on 9 November 2023, but its internal records referred to it on 16 October 2023. It did not provide evidence of the surveys in December 2022 and March 2023 and its records did not confirm the outcome. The landlord should make sure its repair records are accurate and complete.

Communication

The landlord’s communication with the resident was poor. It should consider how it can improve its communication with residents for repair and survey updates.