Ombudsman finds severe maladministration after housing association left resident without heating and hot water

The Housing Ombudsman has made a severe maladministration finding for A2Dominion’s failure to fix various problems with a resident’s heating and hot water supply over a number of years.

The Ombudsman concluded that issues around responsibility for the heating between the landlord, freeholder and managing agent led to further delays in rectifying the problem.

This left the resident without heating or hot water on several occasions as well as brown water coming out of the taps.

The housing association has been ordered to pay £750 in compensation.

The South London resident behind the complaint said that her flat, served by a district heating system, had insufficient heating and hot water for her needs, and that she did not have adequate hot water and heating at the same time.

At the time, the woman had raised a repair and noted that the managing agent had referred her back to the landlord.

The Ombudsman found that after a delay, the landlord’s contractor was able to carry out a repair without collaboration with the freeholder. However, the issue was not fully fixed and another complaint was made about the heating, this time being an urgent repair.

The landlord did not respond within the 24-hour window it set out in its policy and required several visits before it was eventually rectified months later, the report said.

The Ombudsman noted that subsequent to this, “no further survey was made on the building as promised by the landlord and evidence available shows a lack of communication with the resident”.

The Ombudsman investigated and concluded that there was “no clear arrangement for resolution of heating and hot water issues at the resident’s block between the landlord and the managing agent and freeholder”, with “clarity lacking around roles and responsibilities”.

The Ombudsman said that the landlord had not taken the action outlined in its response to resolve the resident’s complaint, its contractor had not carried out a survey, and its named points of contacts had not liaised with the resident until resolution.

The report also found that it was unreasonable that the landlord did not work with the managing agent to resolve the heating and hot water issues experienced by the resident, particularly as it suggested in its response that changes to the boiler plant impacted the resident’s property.

The Ombudsman said that while the landlord offered compensation for the lengthy delays, its award was “not proportionate to all the circumstances of the case”.

To remedy the injustice caused, the Ombudsman has ordered A2Dominion to pay the resident a total of £750 compensation within the next four weeks, broken down as follows:

• £300 in respect of the distress and inconvenience and time and trouble experienced by the resident due to periods of insufficient hot water and/or heating prior to the Stage 2 response.
• £150 to be paid in respect of the distress and inconvenience experienced by the resident from the landlord’s failure to provide the outcome of the survey in relation to the resident’s heating and hot water system to ultimately bring the resident’s concerns to a close. 
• £200 in respect of the failures in its communication with the resident both prior to the Stage 2 response and then in maintaining contact with the resident whilst seeking to resolve the substantive heating and hot water issues.
• £100 for the delays in completing repairs following the reports of 13 November 2020 and 31 March 2021.

In addition to this, the Ombudsman has said the landlord should send a further apology to the resident within the next four weeks, and within the next six, the landlord should:

• arrange an inspection of the resident’s heating and hot water system, identifying any parts of the system that repair, servicing or replacement.  The landlord should also liaise with the freeholder about the plant room and other issues such as leaks in the building and seek to establish how the resident’s heating and hot water supply may be affected by the issues.
• provide the resident with a document setting out the responsibilities of all relevant parties (landlord, managing agent and freeholder) in respect of heating and hot water issues. This should reflect its agreement with the managing agent, which will define these responsibilities.
• provide the resident with a document setting out the details of the responsibilities of its contractors and internal teams in respect of heating and hot water issues.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “Inadequate heating and hot water can lead to significant detriment and at one stage the resident reported being without heating for two days.

“Clearly the landlord had a responsibility to ensure that the resident had sufficient hot water and heating, working with the managing agent as necessary, and carrying out works that fell under its remit.

“However, there was no clear arrangement for resolution of heating and hot water issues. There were significant failings in the overall management of the scheme as it is vital for landlords to have proper agreements in place with the managing agent or freeholder, with clarity around roles and responsibilities."

He added: “This is an issue which I see too often in our casework and our concerns have been set out in two Spotlight reports over the last two years. Both the landlord and wider sector should revisit these reports, particularly our focus on managing agents published in March which set out our serious concerns that landlords may not always have clear and effective liaison in place with managing agents or freeholders.

“Ultimately the landlord is accountable for the tenant-landlord relationship and landlords should consider our practical recommendations to help improve the experience for residents."

A2Dominion said: “We would like to offer our sincere apologies to our resident for the problems they experienced with heating and hot water at their property and acknowledge any distress this may have caused. The safety of our customers remains our number one priority.

“A survey of the property was carried out in accordance with the advice received, and evidence of this was supplied to the Ombudsman, but we acknowledge there were failings in terms of the delays to maintenance work being carried out and the amount of compensation offered to our resident, who will now be compensated in line with this ruling.

“There were significant delays caused by communication issues with the contractors who carried out these repairs on our behalf. As a result, we have overhauled the way we manage our contractor partnerships and have clarified the responsibilities and service level agreements for all involved in any future repairs for our residents on this scheme. A strategic improvement plan is in place to review this across other schemes with more complex lease arrangements."

The housing association added: “Repair work has since been completed at the property and further inspections will be carried out to ensure this matter is not repeated.

“We worked collaboratively and openly with the Ombudsman, accept their recommendations and have updated our systems and ways of working to improve how we communicate and take action."

Lottie Winson