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Heating and hot water charges (June 2024)

Summary

Ms J, a shared owner, lodged a formal complaint in October 2022 in relation to charges relating to her heating and hot water. In her complaint, Ms J, raised that in the lease there was a mention of a heat supply agreement, but this was not provided, the cost and tariff of the charges were not provided and that our tone in our responses were condescending.

We acknowledged the complaint and responded within 10 working days. In our response, which did not follow the complaint handling code, we explained that Ms J was given the best information in relation to the heating and hot water charges available at the time of the purchase including further information on tariff.

Ms J raised further questions and concerns in October 2022 which should have been escalated to a stage 2. Instead, after a delay, in November 2022, we acknowledged and apologised for the delay, and responded to the queries highlighting clauses from the lease relating to heating and hot water charges. Our response did not adhere to our policy.

Further communication was received from the Ms J which was either delayed or not responded to in time. The Ombudsman issued a Complaint Failure Handling Order in May 2023 as no complaint response was provided to the resident.

The Ombudsman’s investigation concluded that whilst it could not interpret the lease terms,  we should have provided information in a timely manner in relation to the heating an hot water charges, and how tariff and charges are calculated. Our response had been delayed and were not clear. The Ombudsman also found that our complaint handling was poor where our responses did not follow the complaint handling code, denying the resident the opportunity to escalate the complaint. Further delays and lack of response led to the CHFO being issued and demonstrated that our handling of the complaint fell well below the standards expected by the Ombudsman.

Outcome

The Housing Ombudsman made the following determinations.

• That there was a service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s enquiries about the heating and hot water supply.
• That there was severe maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

 

Orders and recommendations

The Ombudsman made the following orders and recommendations.

1. Pay the resident £600, made up of the following:
   1. £100 for the failings found in our handling of the resident’s enquiries about the heating and hot water system.
   2. £500 for the failings found in our complaint handling.
2. A senior member of staff to write to the resident to apologise for the failings.
3. Contact the resident and set out clearly how the heating and hot water system works, including explaining how and when the charges are set.