Ombudsman Corner

By Richard Blakeway, the Housing Ombudsman

This month we start regularly publishing our investigation reports, identifying the landlord in each case. With more than 2,000 formal investigations each year, this is a major step in transparency for the Housing Ombudsman. It’s also an opportunity to promote learning and demonstrate the difference complaints can make – both to the individual and service improvement to the benefit of all residents.

Other ways we are promoting learning from our casework include special reports where we find severe maladministration, Insight reports and our series of Spotlight reports. Our latest Spotlight report focuses on heating, hot water and energy, drawing lessons from 211 investigations over 18 months.

This report is timely – decarbonisation and plans to review the Decent Homes Standard could drive significant change amongst social landlords. Whilst our maladministration rate is similar to other casework, the distress and inconvenience caused to residents comes across strongly.

Overall, we make 40 recommendations for improved practice, covering general repairs, district heating, gas safety, complaint handling and energy efficiency. The report identifies areas for collaboration between social landlords and residents. It also includes cases where we think landlords have responded well, as well as poor practice.

Our investigations repeatedly found a failure to put things ‘right first time’, caused by missed appointments, sometimes exacerbated by poor recordkeeping, and operatives attending jobs without the right tools, parts or skills. Consider the experience of Mr F, an 89-year-old tenant, who lived with no hot water for five weeks. Appointments were missed and the wrong parts were ordered. Until the Ombudsman’s intervention the landlord hadn’t considered replacing the boiler and our orders included work with staff on resident vulnerabilities.

In this case the failures involved contractors working on behalf of the landlord – but where contractors are involved the responsibility and accountability rests with the landlord. Indeed, we are concerned at the number of cases where landlords are in a weak position to resolve issues with contractors. Contracts should be robust and monitored, and resident feedback used to evaluate performance and inform future procurement. Our investigation, following a complaint from Ms E, where 39 residents experienced a faulty biomass boiler over two winters, illustrates our concerns. Here we found the landlord’s contract with the provider included no penalties.

The report also examines heat networks – or district heating – where our maladministration rate was 60%. The Energy White Paper encourages their expansion and, whilst offering benefits, they can present challenges, affecting hundreds of residents when something goes wrong. Now is the time to learn the lessons that other landlords and residents have experienced. This includes providing proper information at the outset of the tenancy or lease to avoid problems later; clear billing; and (again) robust contracts where the landlord isn’t the supplier.

Indeed, as decarbonisation becomes a core part of social landlords’ planning, at the centre of decision-making should be the resident: ensuring they have reliable, cost effective and easy-to-use energy.