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Longhurst Group Limited (202121961)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202121961

Longhurst Group Limited

29 August 2023


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 concerning:
    1. A lack of heating and hot water in 2020.
    2. Repairs to a front door.
    3. A lack of heating and hot water and damage to a carpet in 2021.

Jurisdiction

  1. What we can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. This is governed by the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. When a complaint is brought to the Ombudsman, we must consider all the circumstances of the case as there are sometimes reasons why a complaint will not be investigated.
  2. After carefully considering all the evidence, in accordance with paragraphs 42 (c) and (a) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the following aspects of the complaint are outside of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.
    1. The landlord’s handling of a lack of heating and hot water in 2020.
    2. The landlord’s handling of repairs to a front door.
  3. The resident complains about a lack of heating and hot water for several weeks in 2020. Paragraph 42 (c) of the Scheme states that the Ombudsman will not investigate complaints which were not brought to a landlord as a complaint within a reasonable period, normally within 6 months of the issue occurring. From the information, the resident complained about the 2020 issues over a year after they occurred. Where a complaint has not been brought as a formal complaint within a reasonable period, it will not be considered by the Ombudsman.
  4. The resident complained about repairs to a front door in her escalation of the complaint about the 2021 boiler issues, after which the landlord said it was raising a new, separate complaint. Paragraph 42 (a) of the Scheme states that the Ombudsman will not investigate complaints before they have exhausted a landlord’s complaints procedure. The front door complaint will not be considered in this investigation, as this issue was not the subject of the complaint response that exhausted the landlord’s complaints procedure and which the resident referred to this Service for investigation. The resident has the option to progress this issue through the landlord’s complaints procedure and to refer a final complaint response from the landlord to this Service.

Background and summary of events

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. The property is a house.
  2. The landlord aims to repair a lack of heating and hot water within 3 days between 1 May and 31 October, and within 1 day at other times.
  3. The landlord responds to complaints at stage 1 within 10 working days, and at stage 2 within 20 working days. It expects complaints to be made within 6 months of when the issue occurred.
  4. Under its compensation procedure, the landlord pays £10 for missed appointments. If a repair exceeds the aimed completion timeframe, it will pay £10 plus £2 per additional day a repair remains outstanding up to a maximum of £50. It considers additional amounts to recognise the impact of service failures on a complainant. It does not intend for the compensation policy to be a replacement for residents having contents insurance, and will not pay compensation for something outside its control. It expects a resident to claim on their contents insurance for such issues.

Summary of events

  1. On 26 October 2021, a repair was raised for no heating and hot water, which was attended the same day. The landlord’s contractor notes that the pressure was topped up, everything was left working and there were no signs of leaks.
  2. On 1 November 2021, a repair was raised for no heating and hot water. The following day, it was noted that an engineer spoke to the resident and she cancelled an appointment.
  3. On 4 November 2021, the landlord’s contractor’s records note that a water pressure sensor was ordered due to the boiler “sometimes kicking out.”
  4. On 6 November 2021, a repair was raised for the boiler which noted that after an engineer had attended the previous day, the boiler now had an error message and a reset had not worked. It was requested for temporary heaters to be left if the heating was unable to be restored. The following day, an operative attended who noted that parts were on order; topped up the pressure; and left the resident with heating and hot water.
  5. On 8 November 2021, a further repair was raised for the boiler and the following day a repair was raised for temporary heaters to be supplied. The landlord’s contractor has noted that this was a missed appointment as there was no appointment for this repair on its system, and has noted internal steps to prevent the issue from happening again.
  6. On 12 November 2021, the landlord’s contractor attended and replaced a water pressure sensor. The information provided advises that this restored the heating and hot water.
  7. On 17 November 2021, a repair was raised for an uncontained leak, which was attended the same day. It was noted that the resident refused a drain down, and that a diverter valve was ordered.
  8. On 23 November 2021, the landlord logged a complaint following a call from the resident. It noted that she said she had experienced issues with her boiler for a month including delays and missed appointments. It noted that she said her carpet had been ruined due to the boiler leaking and that she had been told the landlord would assess and replace this if required. Following this, the landlord spoke to the resident and noted that she said the contractor kept attending, drained water from the boiler and turned it back on, but when they left it would go off again. It also invited her to supply photos of the damaged carpet due to the water leak.
  9. On 24 November 2021, the landlord’s contractor fitted a divert valve. The same day, the annual Landlord Gas Safety Check Record was also carried out and no issues were noted.
  10. On 20 December 2021, a repairs surveyor visited and inspected the carpet damage. They reported that carpet in the cupboard had been ruined by a boiler leak and needed to be replaced in a colour as close as possible to the bedroom carpet. They noted that it was only a small area of carpet involved.
  11. On 21 December 2021, the landlord provided a stage 1 response.
    1. It noted that the resident reported a lack of heating and hot water on 26 October 2021, and its contractor attended the same day and topped up the pressure. It noted that the resident reported the issue again in November 2021 and new parts were ordered. It noted that on 17 November 2021 the resident reported that the boiler was leaking and had damaged the carpet, and the new parts were fitted on 24 November 2021.
    2. It noted that the surveyor had attended and advised that the boiler room carpet needed to be replaced, and said it would reimburse the resident for this if she provided it with a quote.
    3. It acknowledged that the resident had experienced delays and it apologised for this. It offered £71 compensation, which comprise £36 for repairs delays, £10 for a missed appointment, and £25 for its delays resolving the matter.
  12. On 10 January 2022, the resident requested escalation of her complaint. She detailed how she had reported issues on 9 occasions between 26 October 2021 and 18 November 2021. She said that had been left with no hot water or heating for 3 weeks and was not provided with temporary heating for a long period. She said that damage to the carpet from the boiler leak had led to a bad smell in her young daughter’s bedroom, and her daughter being unable to sleep in the room because it was uncomfortable and bad for her daughter’s health. She said that she had to replace the whole carpet and would not accept half of it being replaced since the damage was caused by the leak. She said that the situation had caused stress and anxiety, and she requested compensation for the lack of heating and hot water, the damaged carpet and the inconvenience to her and her child.
  13. On 31 January 2022, the landlord provided a stage 2 response. It acknowledged and apologised that the length of time and number of visits to repair the heating between October and November 2021 was unacceptable. It said that it did not normally compensate for belongings as it encouraged customers to have their own home contents insurance, but it noted that it had agreed to provide reimbursement for the carpet in the cupboard where the boiler was located. It said that it supported this as leak damage did appear to be isolated to the cupboard, based on information from its surveyor. It reiterated its apology for the poor standard of service the resident had received, and in addition to its offer to reimburse the cost to replace carpet in the boiler cupboard, it offered £346 compensation, which comprised the £71 offered at stage 1; £25 for its failing to provide temporary heating; and £250 for the inconvenience caused by the length of time it took to repair the heating system.
  14. The resident subsequently brought her complaint to this Service. She felt that she should be compensated for each day she had been left without heating and hot water since 2020. She was unhappy with the amount of compensation and felt this should cover the cost of damage to all of her carpet.

Assessment and findings

  1. The evidence shows that the resident reported heating and hot water issues from 26 October 2021, and that these recurred until a water pressure sensor was replaced on 12 November 2021. In this time, the landlord’s contractor attended on several occasions in a timely manner and left the heating and hot water working. However, the landlord’s attendances clearly did not bring a lasting resolution to the issue, as the resident continued to make reports, and the issue was only resolved after parts identified and ordered in early November 2021 were fitted in mid-November 2021. This meant that the resident was without a reliable heating and hot water supply for a period of 17 days. This was an unreasonable length of time, and there was also a failing to provide temporary heating.
  2. The landlord appropriately acknowledged and apologised for the length of time the repair took, the lack of temporary heating, and the impact on the resident. The landlord also appropriately considered compensation, and the £346 it offered sought to recognise the period without heating and hot water, as well as the distress and inconvenience this would have caused. The amount offered is generally in line with the landlord’s compensation policy, and in line with what the Ombudsman would order for the service failures seen in the case.
  3. The landlord considered the resident’s claim for the damage to the carpet; reviewed its records about the reports of the issue; invited her to provide evidence for her claim; arranged for a surveyor to visit and assess the claim first hand; and set out its position that only the boiler cupboard carpet was identified to be damaged to an extent that required replacement. In the Ombudsman’s view, the landlord responded to the resident’s claim reasonably and in a customer focused way, as the decision to offer to reimburse the cost to replace the carpet in the boiler cupboard only was reached in a way that the Ombudsman would expect to see. It is not in this Service’s jurisdiction or expertise to make definitive decisions about liability and negligence and if such matters are disputed, only an insurance or legal procedure is best placed to make a legally binding decision.
  4. Overall, in the Ombudsman’s opinion the landlord responded reasonably to the resident’s complaint. The landlord made an offer of compensation that reasonably reflects what the Ombudsman would have ordered for the service failings present and the distress and inconvenience these will have caused. The landlord was customer focused to consider the claim for the carpet, rather than refer the resident to contents insurance, and its offer to reimburse the cost to replace part of the carpet only seems reasonable as this followed a review of its records and a first-hand inspection.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 53(b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was reasonable redress in the landlord’s response to the resident concerning a lack of heating and hot water and damage to a carpet in 2021.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 42 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the complaints about a lack of heating and hot water in 2020, and repairs to a front door, are outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Reasons

  1. The landlord made an offer of compensation that reasonably reflects what the Ombudsman would have ordered for the service failings present and the distress and inconvenience these will have caused. The landlord’s offer to reimburse the cost to replace part of the carpet only seems reasonable as this followed a review of its records and a first-hand inspection.

Orders and recommendations

Recommendations

  1. The landlord to pay the resident the £346 it previously offered, if this has not been already paid.
  2. The landlord to re-offer to reimburse the cost to replace the damaged carpet in the boiler cupboard, if this has not been already done.