Broadland Housing Association Limited (202211606)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202211606

Broadland Housing Association Limited

14 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 handling of the resident’s request to:
   1. Install solar panels at the property.
   2. Move to a property that had solar panels or a property where he would be allowed to install solar panels.

Jurisdiction

2. 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.
3. After carefully considering all the evidence, in accordance with paragraph 42(a) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the resident’s request to move to a property that had solar panels or a property where he would be allowed to install solar panels, is outside of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. In accordance with Paragraph 42(a) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the Ombudsman cannot investigate complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion: are made prior to having exhausted a landlord’s complaints procedure. As this service has not seen evidence that this request has been escalated via the landlord’s complaint procedure, it has not been considered in this assessment. If the resident wishes to pursue his request to move, he can complain to the landlord. He may be able to refer his complaint to the Ombudsman once it has exhausted the landlord’s complaints process.

Background

4. The resident holds an assured tenancy with the landlord. The resident’s property is a top floor flat.
5. On 6 May 2022, the resident contacted the landlord to ask that it install solar panels to reduce his high energy bills.
6. The landlord responded to the resident on 20 May 2022. It said it was not able to install solar panels and offered the resident support with budgeting and comparing utility bills.
7. On 22 August 2022, the landlord sent the resident a rejection of his application to install solar panels on the roof of the building. It said that it was a communal roof and therefore the resident did not have the right to install a solar panel on it.
8. The resident submitted a formal complaint to the landlord on 26 August 2022, about the rejection of his application to install solar panels on the roof. He said he was worried about his ability to pay his energy bills.
9. On 12 October 2022, the landlord issued a stage 1 complaint response. It said that:
   1. The roof of the block did not form part of the resident’s tenancy. It said the roof was the landlord’s responsibility to maintain and therefore it would not allow residents to make changes to the roof.
   2. The resident’s property did not have an energy performance certificate (EPC), however, based on the age and the construction of the property it was assumed to have an energy rating of C. The landlord said it would undertake an energy assessment of the resident’s home to confirm this rating. It said it was focusing on making improvements to homes that had an energy rating of below C.
   3. It had installed solar panels on some resident’s homes, but no solar panels had been installed on blocks of flats. It said it may investigate doing so in the future, however, solar panels would need to benefit all residents in the block equally and be part of the landlord’s communal electricity supply.
   4. The resident’s block had not been officially assessed as to whether solar panels could be installed, however the dormer windows on the roof might mean that solar panels would be of little benefit.
10. The landlord contacted the resident on 9 November 2022. It asked whether he wished to escalate his complaint to stage 2 of its complaint procedure. The resident confirmed that he wished to escalate his complaint.
11. The landlord convened a complaint panel on 24 November 2022, which the resident attended. On 28 November 2022, the landlord sent the resident its complaint panel findings. It said that:
    1. It had installed solar panels on some bungalows and houses but had not yet fitted solar panels on blocks of flats. The only block of flats with solar panels was a building that the landlord had bought from a developer, who had installed solar panels during construction.
    2. Before it could consider installing solar panels on the roof of the resident’s block, it would need to make sure that roof structures were strong enough and that there would be enough electricity to benefit all residents who lived in the block. It would need to resolve any legal issues relating to a shared energy supply. It would also need to determine how to recover the costs of maintenance and insurance through service charges.
    3. The resident had told the landlord that his energy supplier would be willing to install solar panels. The landlord said it had not seen details of the energy supplier’s proposal; however, it had been approached by other providers. It said that for it to consider any proposal, any legal and licensing issues would need to be resolved. It had not yet found a company it felt was appropriate based on the commitments and costs involved.
    4. It sympathised with the resident’s concerns about his energy bills and said it would review whether its tenancy support team could provide him with any further advice in relation to his energy costs.
    5. It reiterated that it could not allow the installation of solar panels on the roof of the building, and it did not uphold the resident’s complaint.
12. An energy assessment was carried out on the resident’s property on 16 December 2022. The property was given an EPC rating of C.
13. On 25 January 2023, the landlord refused the resident’s request to allow him to install portable solar panels on the roof. It said it could not allow any equipment to be installed as it was a shared roof, and it was the landlord’s responsibility to maintain. It said a portable device was not intended to be fixed to permanent structures.
14. The resident complained to the Ombudsman on 13 December 2022. He said other residents had been allowed to have solar panels. The resident said he lived on the top floor so should be allowed to use the roof. He said his energy company had said they could install solar panels. Since his complaint, the resident has contacted this service to say that if the landlord would not allow the installation of solar panels, he wanted a move to a property that had solar panels or where the installation of solar panels would be allowed.

Assessment

Installation of solar panels

15. It is understandable that the resident had concerns about the cost of his energy bills. The landlord acted appropriately in acknowledging this and in offering the resident advice in relation to his bills through its tenancy support team. The resident may wish to seek further support from Citizen’s Advice.
16. The landlord acted reasonably in refusing the resident permission to install solar panels on the roof of the block he lives in. This is because the roof does not form part of the resident’s tenancy, therefore the landlord would not allow him to make changes to a part of the building not included in his tenancy.
17. It was appropriate for the landlord to carry out an energy assessment on the resident’s property to confirm its EPC rating. It is reasonable that the landlord is prioritising works to improve the energy efficiency of properties that have an energy rating of below C as these properties are the least energy efficient. As the resident’s property has an energy rating of C, the landlord would not be expected to include his property in these works.
18. The landlord acted reasonably in explaining that there was only one block of flats within its stock that had solar panels installed. This was because this block already had solar panels when the landlord bought it from a developer. The landlord explained that if it did consider solar panels in the future, these would need to benefit all the residents in the block equally. This is because any improvements made to the communal roof could not be made for the benefit of just one resident. This was a reasonable explanation by the landlord.
19. It was appropriate for the landlord to explain that were it to install solar panels in the future, it would need to carry out an assessment of the building to determine how much energy these would generate and whether the roof was strong enough. The landlord would not be expected to install solar panels if these would not generate sufficient energy or if the structure of the building was not strong enough to support the panels.
20. The landlord was right to explain that it would need to consider all the legal and licensing issues were it to consider allowing a third party to install solar panels. This is because if a third party were to install the panels, it would need to recoup the cost of doing so and the legalities of who owned the panels and who was responsible for maintaining them, would need to be determined.
21. Ultimately there is no obligation on the landlord to install solar panels on its properties as this would be an improvement and the landlord is not required to carry out improvements, it is only required to maintain its properties. The landlord has demonstrated that it considered the resident’s request thoroughly and has provided an appropriate and reasonable response as to why it would not install solar panels on the roof of the resident’s block.

Determination (decision)

22. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration by the landlord in its response to the resident’s request to install solar panels at the property.
23. In accordance with Paragraph 42(a) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the resident’s request to move to a property that had solar panels or a property where he would be allowed to install solar panels, is out of jurisdiction.