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Thurrock Council (202330865)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202330865

Thurrock Council

3 June 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. Repairs to storage heaters.
    2. Communication about planned window replacements.

Background

  1. The resident has been a secure tenant of the property, a 2-bedroom, 12th floor flat, since 2016. The landlord is a council.
  2. There is a history of storage heater repairs from 2016. An inspection on 13 February 2023 found they were in working order.
  3. The landlord told the resident in 2022 that her windows were due to be replaced as part of planned refurbishment works.
  4. In communications of 14 October 2023, and a stage 1 complaint of 18 October 2023, the resident said:
    1. The property was not a comfortable temperature and she wanted the storage heaters to be replaced.
    2. She was a single parent on a low income and she felt the heaters were not energy efficient. She believed new ones could reduce her energy bills.
    3. The windows were poorly insulated and were blown (when there is a gap between panes allowing moisture into the window unit). She was told the windows would be replaced in 2023 but believed this would not happen.
    4. She was constantly painting and cleaning the walls, ceiling and window edges as they were damp.
  5. The landlord serviced the storage heaters on 27 October 2023 and found they were in working order. Its stage 1 response of 1 November 2023 said the window refurbishment programme had taken longer than anticipated. It gave reasons for the delay and said the contractor would arrange an installation date. It told the resident the outcome of the service and that the contractor did not recommend the heaters should be replaced.
  6. The resident escalated her complaints on 1 November 2023, when she said:
    1. The storage heaters were only warm in the morning and resulted in an uncomfortable living temperature. She felt this caused damp and mould in the colder months.
    2. Extra air coming in from the windows was affecting the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system and would stop it regulating the humidity levels. She found it difficult to open and close the windows.
  7. The landlord maintained that the storage heaters did not need to be replaced in its stage 2 response of 28 November 2023. It attached a copy of the operating instructions and suggested how the resident could improve their efficiency. It said the windows would be inspected on 20 December 2023 and were also scheduled to be replaced that day (weather permitting). It said carpentry and redecoration work would follow on 2 January 2024 with all work due to be completed no later than 16 January 2024.
  8. The windows were inspected on 20 December 2023 and found to be in working order. The planned replacement of that day did not go ahead due to bad weather. The landlord told us the window refurbishment was completed on 23 January 2024. The resident remains unhappy with the efficiency of the storage heaters.

Assessment and findings

Repairs to storage heaters

  1. While the storage heater repairs date back to 2016, the stage 1 complaint was not made until October 2023. In the interests of fairness, and taking into account the availability of evidence, this investigation is focused on events from 2023 onwards.
  2. It is positive the landlord serviced the storage heaters following the resident’s concerns in October 2023. However, its repair policy says reports of partial loss of heating should be treated as an emergency repair and attended to within 24 hours. The landlord failed to address the repair within this time and this represented a failure in service, although the subsequent service found them to be in working order.
  3. Thereafter, the landlord’s decision not to replace the storage heaters was reasonable, given they were in working order and could be maintained. Its repair policy says it will carry out long term maintenance to extend the life of housing assets. As providers of social housing, it is necessary for landlords to make the most effective use of their limited resources, and this will often involve carrying out repairs wherever possible, rather than a replacement.
  4. However, the landlord’s stage 2 response did not address the resident’s concerns that the property was an uncomfortable temperature. Landlords have a duty to monitor that their properties are free from hazards, including damp, mould and excess cold. When assessing these, they must consider issues that include:
    1. The energy efficiency of the property.
    2. The effectiveness of the heating system.
    3. Adequacy of the heating, insulation, and ventilation.
    4. Any other factors that may affect the indoor temperature such as dampness, disrepair to the structure, or to space or water heating systems.
  5. It is positive the landlord assessed the effectiveness of the heating system. However, there is no evidence it investigated whether the property was excessively cold or assessed the ventilation and insulation. It should have done and this was another service failure.
  6. Further, the landlord’s repair policy says it should deal with severe damp and mould within 20 working days and minor mould growth is treated under its batch repair programme. Again, it failed to investigate whether there was any damp and mould that required treatment. It should have done so, and our spotlight report on damp and mould recommends that landlords take a zero-tolerance approach to damp and mould interventions. Its failure to do so, in addition to the other service failures identified, amount to maladministration.
  7. The resident also complained she was paying higher energy costs than necessary. We cannot determine if the property was excessively cold but the landlord should have taken these concerns more seriously. It could have signposted her to available support with energy costs. Further, its failure to assess the temperature of the property, meant it did not consider whether the windows were having an adverse effect on this. Again, we do not know if the windows were contributing to a reduction in temperature but, had this been confirmed, the landlord could have considered temporary measures whilst the windows were waiting to be replaced (such as additional heaters or help towards energy bills).
  8. We therefore find that further remedy is required to put things right, in line with our Dispute Resolution Principles. We therefore order the landlord to apologise and pay £200 compensation in recognition of the stress and inconvenience caused to the resident. This is inline with our remedies guidance for when there was a failure which adversely affected the resident and the landlord has failed to acknowledge its failings and made no attempt to put things right. We also order the landlord to investigate the temperature of the property and whether there is any damp and mould.

Communication about planned window replacements

  1. The landlord has not disputed that it told the resident her windows would be replaced in 2023. Its stage 1 response says she was notified of the planned window refurbishment on 5 December 2022 and 22 May 2023 (no copies provided) and the latter explained there was an ongoing dialogue between the landlord and the contractor. It said this included an assessment of the original requirements and any potential variation to these. It said these needed to be concluded before the new windows could be installed and this would extend the timeframe. It gave details of completed work and said it would maintain the current windows to ensure they were in full working order. It said the contractor would contact the resident to arrange and installation date.
  2. The landlord’s repair policy says it will carry out significant improvement and repair works through capital works programmes. These include the replacement of windows. It says completion times may vary and, if there are planned works, repairs will be restricted to emergency or make safe repairs until improvements are completed. This was a large capital works programme that covered more than one block of flats. Therefore, it was reasonable for the landlord to estimate when the windows would be replaced. It was also reasonable to expect there may have been unforeseen delays in completing the programme.
  3. It is positive the landlord arranged for the windows to be inspected after the resident escalated her complaint and said she found it difficult to open and close them. Evidence suggests this inspection was initially booked for 15 November 2023, within 20 working days of when she reported the issue on 1 November 2023 and in line with the landlord’s repair policy (it was later rescheduled due to the resident’s availability).
  4. The contractor wrote to the resident on 17 November 2023 saying the windows were due to be replaced on 20 December 2023. It said a pre-installation meeting had been arranged for 20 November 2023 and the installation may be postponed due to inclement weather. This was confirmed in the stage 2 response.
  5. The landlord contacted the resident on 15 December 2023 and told her the windows could not be replaced as planned on 20 December 2023 due to bad weather. It said the installation had been rescheduled for 3 January 2024. The resident was unhappy with this and disagreed with the upcoming weather forecast. The landlord replied promptly on 16 December 2023 and explained that bad weather earlier in the week had caused the installations to over run. It said the next available date was 3 January 2024 due to the Christmas period. It apologised for any inconvenience.
  6. The window inspection of 20 December 2023 found the windows were operational. Although the work was due to be completed in 2023, the landlord could not have prevented the bad weather that caused it to overrun. We are satisfied the refurbishment was completed as soon as it was feasible and within a reasonable time. As we have explained, variations to such a large programme of work would be expected and the landlord kept the resident informed of these, explaining the reasons. Therefore, we find the landlord acted appropriately in its communication of the planned window replacements and there was no maladministration.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was:
    1. Maladministration in the landlord’s handling of repairs to the storage heaters.
    2. No maladministration to the landlord’s communication about planned window replacements.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to provide evidence that it has:
    1. Apologised to the resident for the failings identified in this report.
    2. Paid directly to the resident (and not offset against any arrears) £200 compensation for its failure to investigate potential hazards.
    3. Arranged to carry out a heat loss survey of the property in October 2025 (when the weather turns colder) to investigate the resident’s reports that the property is excessively cold and has damp and mould. The landlord must write to the resident and confirm:
      1. The date and purpose of the survey.
      2. That it will provide the outcome of the survey to her in writing.
      3. An estimated timescale for when it will start any recommended remedial work.