A landlord has been fined £1,000 after failing to fix a tenant’s heating, leaving it on full blast during the summer and causing her to collapse multiple times from overheating.
Onward Homes regularly appointed the wrong contractors to the job, which meant no one turned up to fix the situation.
It went on for four months, in which the Manchester resident – who has a progressive neurological condition which affects her speech and movement – was left in a home that left her physically sick.
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The woman – who has not been named by the Housing Ombudsman – said when she first raised the issue, a contractor applied a “temporary fix” – but a month later, the heating was on full again and would not switch off.
She described the flat as “horrendously hot” with the door handles hot to the touch.
She collapsed only to be found and revived by her son who said the radiator valve cover had melted in the heat. He believes his mother would have died if he had not found her.
Despite the issue being flagged by her son, a formal complaint was not raised because Onward Homes said the son had “no authority to discuss her tenancy”.
Tenant offered £50 ‘as gesture of goodwill’
The company initially offered the woman a £50 gesture of goodwill and an apology – but still, the issue was not fixed.
On the same day as the apology letter was sent, which stated the issues would not happen again, the landlord once again appointed the wrong contractor and no one attended.
The woman declined the £50, saying how during one collapse she burnt her knee on the radiator and injured her back and hip, and that her doctor had referred her to a physiotherapist.
In response, the landlord raised another emergency repair – but once again no one attended.
A week later, a similar pattern once again emerged, with the resident reporting the issue, the landlord not appointing the right contractor, no one turning up and the resident subsequently being found by her son collapsed on the floor. The thermostat was replaced the day after this.
The Housing Ombudsman – which mediates disputes between tenants and landlords – ordered the landlord to apologise, pay £1,000 in compensation, and ensure it is fully up to date with the resident’s vulnerabilities.
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Landlord ‘clearly learnt no lessons’
Richard Blakeway, from the Housing Ombudsman, said: “The landlord clearly learnt no lessons from previous attempts to fix the issue. Time and time again it wasted the resident’s time and caused her more distress, including her collapsing from the problem on several occasions.
“The resident’s vulnerability was well known and whilst the landlord sometimes responded within the right timescales for the problem, it did not do enough to resolve it. When undertaking repairs, landlords must assure themselves that the root cause has also been fixed, and follow this up with the resident.”
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In all cases of severe maladministration, the Ombudsman invites the landlord to provide a learning statement.
Onward Homes said in the statement: “We are very sorry for the difficulties our resident has experienced in this case. We have apologised to our resident and have fully complied with the Ombudsman’s order.
“Several lessons have been highlighted. Given the period of time between the events and findings, improvements are now already in place, we have identified further opportunities to learn from this case.”
