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Tower Hamlets Homes (202114805)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202114805

Tower Hamlets Homes

17 February 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. This complaint is about:
    1. The landlord’s intention to increase the service charge at the property.
    2. The landlord’s handling of resident’s request for compensation for no heating in his property between 18 October 2022 and 3 March 2023.
    3. The landlord’s decision to delay its internal review of its compensation policy.
    4. The associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of a flat owned by the landlord. A district heating system heats the property.
  2. The resident complained to the landlord on 13 March 2023 requesting compensation for a period of no heating. He also said he was dissatisfied with the landlord’s decision to increase his service charge for heating and hot water.
  3. The landlord responded at stage 1 on 21 March 2023, setting out its policy for compensation for a loss of service. It said it had checked its records and not identified any period of outage meeting its criteria for which the resident had not received compensation. It invited the resident to provide dates if he disagreed.
  4. The resident escalated his complaint on 3 April 2023. He said he had no heating between 18 October 2022 and 3 March 2023 and wanted the landlord to pay compensation for this. He asked the landlord if it had reviewed its compensation policy.
  5. On 10 August 2023, the landlord issued its stage 2 response. It explained that although its compensation policy was due for an internal review, it had put this on hold. As such, its current compensation policy concerning outages of heating and hot water would apply. It asked the resident to provide dates if an outage affected him, so it could check its records and act in line with its current policy.
  6. The landlord’s final response dissatisfied the resident and so he referred his complaint to this Service.

Assessment and findings

Jurisdiction

  1. When a resident refers a complaint to the Ombudsman, we must consider all the circumstances of the case as there are sometimes reasons why we will not investigate.
  2. Paragraph 42.d. of the Scheme states the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which concern the level of rent or service charge or the amount of the rent or service charge increase. Accordingly, the Housing Ombudsman Service will not consider the resident’s complaint about the landlord’s intention to increase the service charges at the property. This is with respect to the complaint defined in paragraph 1.a. above.
  3. Complaints that relate to the level, reasonableness, or liability to pay service charges are within the jurisdiction of the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). It is open for the resident to seek free and independent advice from the Leasehold Advisory Service for more information about this.
  4. Paragraph 42.m. of the Scheme states the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which are about matters which relate to the processes and decisions concerning a member’s governance structures. Therefore, we will not consider the complaint about the landlord’s decision to delay its internal review of its compensation policy. This is with respect to the complaint defined in paragraph 1.c. above.

Scope of investigation

  1. Following the landlord’s final complaint response, the resident raised another complaint in December 2023 about a lack of heating in the property. Furthermore, in February 2025, he told us that there was little heat coming from the bedroom radiators. These matters occurred after the landlord’s final complaint response from August 2023. Therefore, we cannot investigate these issues within this determination. The landlord needs to have an opportunity to investigate and respond under its internal complaint procedure, as per paragraph 42.a. of the Scheme. It is open for the resident to contact the landlord, and, if appropriate, refer a separate complaint to this Service once he has received a stage 2 response.
  2. The Ombudsman recognises there has been intermittent faults with the heating and hot water in the property over several years. This case focuses on the resident’s claim for compensation for a heating outage between 18 October 2022 and 3 March 2023

The resident’s claim for compensation

  1. Within the landlord’s complaint responses, it said its compensation guidance allows for compensation to residents where there is an unplanned outage or loss of service. It references eligibility starting for 3 days after loss of heating (winter only) and after 5 days for loss of hot water.
  2. The compensation policy submitted to this Service by the landlord (dated June 2016) does not reference the compensation described above.
  3. Within both complaint responses, the landlord asked the resident to provide the dates he was without heating. He did so on 3 April 2023 and 3 June 2023. The landlord’s records show it investigated this with a member of its repairs team, who stated in July 2023, “there are far too many works under the block and boiler house to accurately confirm this but nonetheless I’ve tried”. They further described the resident reporting a radiator leak on 25 October 2022 which it resolved by a radiator replacement on 3 March 2023.
  4. It is good practice for a landlord to maintain accurate, contemporaneous records on the repair requests it receives, and its actions in response. This will enable it to effectively manage any issues raised by its residents as well as fulfilling its obligations as a landlord. It cannot thoroughly investigate and respond to complaints without accurate and comprehensive records, and this could result in unfairness to the resident. We are concerned the landlord was seemingly unable to identify from its own repair records whether the resident was without heating for the period described. Further, it has not evidenced that it delivered temporary heaters while the works were pending or provided full records of its communication with the resident. This was unreasonable in the circumstances.
  5. Despite making internal enquiries, the landlord did not fully address the resident’s request for compensation within its complaint response or clarify its position. This was a failure, causing the resident to feel unheard and frustrated. Furthermore, it was inappropriate for the landlord to ask him to provide the dates he experienced a service outage again as he had already done this on 2 occasions.
  6. In this case, we are not deciding whether the resident was without heating for the entire period described. The lack of evidence means it is not appropriate for us to make a finding in this respect. Rather, we have considered how the landlord handled his request for compensation for the alleged outage. From the information available, the landlord has not clarified its position to the resident or adequately explained or evidenced its decision-making. This was a shortcoming. As such, appropriate orders have been made below.

Complaint handling

  1. The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (“the Code”) is applicable to all member landlords. It specifies that a stage 1 complaint should be finalised in 10 working days from the acknowledgement of the complaint, with no more than a further extension of 10 days. A stage 2 complaint should be finalised within 20 working days from the acknowledgement of the complaint, with a further extension of 10 days if required. A landlord should not exceed these timescales without good reason.
  2. The landlord responded at stage 1 on 21 March 2023, a week after the resident initially complained on 13 March 2023. He escalated the complaint on 3 April 2023. The landlord issued its final complaint response 89 working days later. The Code serves to illustrate the landlord kept the complaint open for an unreasonable duration at stage 2.
  3. Within the landlord’s final complaint response, it apologised for the delay responding to the resident’s complaint and explained it had a shortage of staff in its complaints team. While it was appropriate for the landlord to apologise for the delay, it did not offer any compensation to recognise the impact the delay had on the resident. Our remedies guidance (available on our website) sets out that compensation between £50 and £100 is reasonable where there has been a failure in service that does not affect the overall outcome for the resident.
  4. Under the Ombudsman’s dispute resolution principles, it is good practice for a landlord to evidence learning from a complaint. In this case, it could have done more to reference specific learning from the resident’s experience within its complaint responses to improve its future complaint handling.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 42.d. of the Scheme, the resident’s complaint about the landlord’s intention to increase the service charge at the property is outside of our jurisdiction.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of resident’s request for compensation for no heating in his property between 18 October 2022 and 3 March 2023.
  3. In accordance with paragraph 42.m. of the Scheme, the resident’s complaint about the landlord’s decision to delay its internal review of its compensation policy is outside of our jurisdiction.
  4. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. Within 28 days of the date of this report, the Ombudsman orders the landlord to:
    1. Pay the resident £125 compensation comprised of:
      1. £75 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of the resident’s request for compensation.
      2. £50 for the impact of the complaint handling delay.
    2. Write to the resident setting out its position concerning his claim for compensation for an alleged heating outage between October 2022 and March 2023, with clear reasoning. It must share a copy of the letter with this Service.
    3. Provide evidence of compliance with these orders.

Recommendations

  1. The Ombudsman recommends the landlord contacts the resident to discuss his recent concerns about the temperature in his property.
  2. The Ombudsman recommends that the landlord reviews its record keeping policies, ensuring that there is clear, dated records of all repairs and associated actions.