Westminster City Council (202106768)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202106768

Westminster City Council

4 January 2022

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 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 repairs to the resident’s warm air unit in his property.

Background and summary of events

Policies and procedures

2. The landlord’s tenant handbook confirms that it is responsible for the services and equipment that supply heating to its properties. A loss of heating between 1 November and 30 April is considered an immediate job, which should be attended to within 2 hours and made safe within 24 hours.
3. The landlord’s “working safely: repairs and major works” document confirms that following the coronavirus pandemic, residents can request non-urgent repairs from 1 April 2021. The expected time to get an appointment for such repairs is 20 days.

Background and summary of events

4. The resident is a tenant of the landlord. He resides in a flat with a communal heating system, which provides heating through warm air units located within individual properties.
5. On 1 January 2021, the landlord’s records confirm that the resident had reported that there was no heating in his property. A contractor attended the same day and noted that although the heating was “hot”, the fan in the warm air unit in the property was “not dispersing the heat very well”. The contractor informed the landlord that an electrician was needed to check the operation of the fan.
6. On 9 February 2021, an electrician attended the resident’s property to inspect the warm air unit. They found no major faults with the warm air unit but they did clear the unit of debris, which they reported had improved its air flow. The resident remained dissatisfied with this and requested the refurbishment of his warm air unit, which would be carried out once the coronavirus restrictions had been eased.
7. On 12 April 2021, the landlord’s records confirm it had removed the resident’s warm air unit in order for it to be refurbished. The resident declined the offer of temporary heating as he says he was advised it would only take a week to refurbish the unit.
8. On 4 May 2021, the resident submitted his stage one complaint to the landlord. He was unhappy with the delay in the refurbishment of his warm air unit, and he wanted it to be fixed and returned to him as soon as possible. The landlord acknowledged the complaint on 6 May 2021, and confirmed that it would respond to him by 18 May 2021.
9. On 12 May 2021, the landlord’s records confirm that it completed the re-installation of the refurbished warm air unit in the resident’s property and left it in working order. It also provided the resident with two oil filled radiators at his request.
10. On 20 May 2021, the landlord issued its stage one complaint response to the resident, which is summarised as follows:
    1. Following the initial report about the warm air unit, it had attended the same day and established that although it was working, the heat output was low. Due to the coronavirus restrictions in place at that time, it was only carrying out work to remedy a total loss of heating. As this was not the case, it had been unable to complete the repair until these restrictions were eased.
    2. When it took the warm air unit away on 12 April 2021, the resident had declined its offer of temporary heaters. Following the re-installation of the warm air unit, the resident had raised concerns to the contractor that it would not be effective in adequately heating his property. Its subsequent tests confirmed that it reached the required standard of performance, which could only achieve a maximum of 22 degrees.
    3. It recognised that the repair to the warm air unit was not carried out within the timescales expected, due to the timescales for the completion of the refurbishment set by a specialist contractor, which could take 10 to 12 working days. Although the resident had declined its initial offer of temporary heaters, it had since provided these at his request. However, it would not be held responsible for their associated running costs.
    4. It did not uphold the complaint as it had not identified any failings in its service. In recognition of his time and trouble, it offered the resident £25 compensation.
11. On 20 May 2021, the resident submitted his final stage complaint to the landlord, which is summarised as follows:
    1. His concerns over the effectiveness of his warm air unit were previously raised in 2020, and he did not consider his current concerns to have been addressed. He was also dissatisfied with the compensation the landlord had offered in its stage one complaint response.
    2. He alleged that the operative who had attended his property on 9 February 2021 had told him to call back in March 2021, to request the collection of his warm air unit. When he called back on 7 March 2021, the repair order had been closed. He had submitted a further repair request on the same day, which “after a number of calls” the contractor had attended on 12 April 2021.
    3. He further alleged that the operative who had completed the re-installation of the refurbished warm air unit had confirmed that “the fan was not the problem and the heating [was] not working properly”. Following a further inspection, the operative had informed the resident that the refurbishment to his warm air unit did not address the issue, and that he would report that the heating output was low. He wanted an inspection of his property, as the landlord had asserted that the unit reached the required standard of performance despite not visiting his property.
    4. He had declined the offer of temporary heaters as the operative who had taken the warm air unit away had informed him it would only take a week to refurbish. He had later requested temporary heaters as the weather became colder.
12. On 3 June 2021, the resident emailed the landlord to confirm that he had not yet received its final stage complaint response. He explained that although the heating was not currently required, he wanted it to be fixed before the winter season.
13. On 9 June 2021, the landlord issued its final stage complaint response to the resident, which is summarised as follows:
    1. In addition to reiterating the actions it had taken in its stage one complaint response, it confirmed that it had tested the central communal warm air unit, which was a background heat source in the building, which reached the required standard of performance. Therefore, the resident should report any further concerns as a repair.
    2. It had found there was a delay in the warm air unit being refurbished and returned; therefore, it apologised to the resident and increased its compensation offer to £65, comprising £20 for the delayed return of the refurbished warm air unit and £20 for the inconvenience, in addition to the £25 it had offered previously.
14. On 18 June 2021, the landlord emailed the resident to confirm that it would check the output of the warm air unit in September 2021, once the communal heating had been switched on.
15. The resident subsequently referred his complaint to this Service, as he did not feel that the heating had been restored to his property. He wanted an inspection to be carried out, including temperature readings to be taken inside his property.
16. The landlord’s records confirm that it had subsequently inspected the resident’s property on 30 September 2021. It found the temperature in the property to be satisfactory. It requested work to upgrade the room thermostat control and arranged a survey of the windows in relation to installing secondary glazing. It also confirmed that it planned to carry out an overhaul of the heating system to start in the financial year 2023 to 2024.
17. During November 2021 the resident told this Service that the landlord had recently carried out another inspection during colder weather and found the temperatures to be very low in the property, ranging from 14 to 17 degrees in several rooms. He confirmed that the thermostat had been replaced but this had to be kept on the maximum temperature as the heat output was inadequate, that a hole had been left where the old thermostat was removed, and he had not been contacted about the windows.

Assessment and findings

18. Following the resident’s report of no heating in his property on 1 January 2021, the landlord was obliged to attend the same day in accordance with its target timescales. It did so and that found that there was heating in the property from the warm air unit, however, it was not dispersing the heat properly and a follow up appointment with an electrician was required.
19. An electrician subsequently attended on 9 February 2021, therefore exceeding the landlord’s target of 20 days for routine repairs. It is also of concern that the repair was not treated more urgently given that it was winter and the contractor had identified that the warm air unit was not working properly. There is no evidence that the landlord offered temporary heaters to the resident after the contractor attended on 1 January to ensure that there was adequate heating in the property. The landlord failed to identify and put right this service failure in its complaint responses.
20. The electrician reported that they improved the air flow to the warm air unit and that the unit would be refurbished once the coronavirus restrictions were lifted. The evidence shows that the landlord raised an order for the refurbishment works on 7 April 2021, shortly after its normal repairs service resumed. However, there was a delay in refurbishing the unit and reinstating the heating as this was not completed until 12 May 2021, and the landlord has acknowledged that this should only have taken around two weeks. The landlord has offered a reasonable amount of compensation for this service failure given the length of the delay and the time of year the resident was without heating.
21. The resident has said that he was informed that it would only take one week for the warm air unit to be refurbished. This Service has not been provided with any evidence to confirm this, or that any other timescale was provided to the resident. It is evident however, that the landlord offered the resident temporary heaters which was appropriate in order to ensure that it met its responsibility to provide heating to the property.
22. Following the re-installation of the warm air unit, the resident remained unhappy with the performance of the unit. As the communal heating was shut down during the summer months, the landlord carried out an inspection during September 2021. It took temperature readings inside the property and found the temperature to be between 19 and 21 degrees. This was an appropriate action for the landlord to take and confirmed that the heat output was adequate at this time.
23. However, the resident has raised concerns that the heat output would not be adequate during colder weather and has said that a more recent inspection found the temperature in the property to be low. The resident has also raised concerns about a hole left in his wall following the thermostat being replaced and that the window survey has not been progressed. It is therefore recommended that the landlord takes steps in relation to these matters, as outlined below. 
24. It is noted that there were some minor delays in the landlord responding to the resident’s complaint; two days at stage one and four days at stage two. While this does not amount to a service failure given the short duration of the overall delay, it is recommended that the landlord keeps its residents updated if it is going to exceed its target timescales for responding to complaints.

Determination (decision)

25. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in respect of its handling of the repairs to the resident’s warm air unit.

Reasons

26. While the landlord attended the initial report promptly and has offered adequate compensation to the resident for the delay in refurbishing the warm air unit, it failed to identify and put right the delay in arranging for an electrician to attend after the initial call out. There was a period of over five weeks between the appointments and this was an unreasonable delay given the time of year and that the warm air unit was not working properly.

Orders and recommendations

27. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident £100 compensation for the delay in arranging the repairs to the warm air unit. This is in addition to the amount of £65 it previously offered.
28. It is recommended that the landlord:
    1. Assesses the current functioning of the warm air unit and considers whether this is providing adequate heating in the property during cold weather. In doing so the landlord should consider its responsibility to ensure there are no category one hazards in relation to excess cold, as defined by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. The landlord should provide its findings to the resident in writing together with details of any works it intends to carry out, including its position on installing secondary glazing and repairing the hole caused by the removal of the thermostat.
    2. Keeps its residents updated if it is going to exceed its target timescales for responding to complaints.
29. The landlord shall contact this Service within four weeks of this determination to confirm that it has complied with the above order and whether it will follow the above recommendations.