Southwark Council — case 202410508

Decision Case ID 202410508 Decision type Investigation Landlord Southwark Council Landlord type Local Authority / ALMO or TMO Occupancy Introductory Tenancy Date 27 May 2026 Background The tenancy started on 28 August 2023. In October 2023 the resident complained that the landlord had not removed a gas pipe from the living room floor as requested. What the complaint is about The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the removal of a gas pipe from a floor containing asbestos.

We have also investigated the landlord’s complaint handling. Our decision (determination) There was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the removal of a gas pipe. There was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the complaint. We have made orders for the landlord to put things right. Summary of reasons Gas pipe The landlord agreed to remove the pipe. However, there were delays caused by incorrect classification of the repair, failure to identify possible asbestos at an earlier stage, and a gas leak which occurred during the work that resulted in a lack of heating and hot water for 18 days.

It also did not investigate some missed appointments as promised. It acknowledged some failures and offered compensation but this did not reflect the detriment caused. Complaint Overall, the complaint handling was effective. However, there were minor delays in providing the complaint responses and the landlord did not apologise for this or offer any other remedy. Putting things right Where we find service failure, maladministration or severe maladministration we can make orders for the landlord to put things right.

We have the discretion to make recommendations in all other cases within our jurisdiction. Orders Landlords must comply with our orders in the manner and timescales we specify. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of compliance with our orders by the due date set. Order What the landlord must do Due date 1 Apology order The landlord must apologise in writing to the resident for the failures identified in this report. The landlord must ensure: a landlord provides the apology the apology is specific to the failures identified in this decision, meaningful and empathetic.

it has due regard to our apologies guidance. No later than 24 June 2026 2 Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident £570 made up as follows: £270 to reflect the distress and inconvenience caused by a lack of heating and hot water for 18 days. £250 for the time, trouble, distress, and inconvenience caused by its failures in removing the pipe. £50 for the time and trouble caused by its complaint handling failures. The landlord must pay this directly to the resident by the due date.

The landlord must provide documentary evidence of payment by the due date. The landlord may deduct from the total figure any payments it has already paid. No later than 24 June 2026 Our investigation The complaint procedure Date What happened 25 October 2023 The resident complained to the landlord. She said that: she had reported a gas related issue at the property no-one attended the first appointment the contractor arrived 1.5 hours late to the second appointment an electrician had attended the third appointment, not a gas engineer on the fourth occasion she was at the property from 10:50am until 5pm, yet the engineer had said they could not gain access this had caused a lot of wasted time and she had not yet been able to move into the property 26 October 2023 The landlord acknowledged receipt of the stage 1 complaint.

9 November 2023 The landlord provided a stage 1 complaint response. It said that: further to a conversation with the resident, it understood that she was waiting for the landlord to remove an obsolete gas pipe in the living room it had listened to the phone call the resident made on 19 September 2023 and agreed that she had said that the issue was with a gas pipe and not an electrical issue it therefore recognised that it had raised an incorrect job initially which she had chased on 18 and 26 September 2023 it would investigate the missed appointments and provide an update on 17 October 2023 a heating inspector had attended and raised a job for an engineer to remove the old gas point in the living room on 25 October 2023 an engineer attended but could not gain access they provided a photograph of the front door but did not note that they had tried to call the resident an engineer and builder would attend the following day to dig up the floor and cap off the obsolete gas pipe it apologised and offered £100 compensation 20 November 2023 The resident asked the landlord to escalate the complaint to stage 2 of the complaints process.

She said that the gas engineer had identified that the pipe was live and that there was asbestos in the floor tiles. The landlord acknowledged receipt of the escalation request. 20 December 2023 The landlord provided a stage 2 complaint response. It said that: it would not usually remove a gas pipe while a property was empty as the resident would be expected to lay the new floor covering with it in place it understood that the resident thought that it should have identified the required asbestos removal work while the property was empty, however the floor was not damaged when the property was handed back on 17 August 2023 following an asbestos survey, it would remove and replace the floor tiles the resident requested that the contractor completed this work on 18 December 2023 it partially upheld the complaint because the repair was delayed due to the asbestos.

Referral to the Ombudsman In May 2026 the resident told us that she could not live in the property from the start of the tenancy. She said there was no heating or hot water in the property from 18 December 2023 until 5 January 2024. What we found and why The circumstances of this complaint are well known by the parties involved, so it is not necessary to detail everything that’s happened or comment on all the information we’ve reviewed. We’ve only included the key information that forms the basis of our decision of whether the landlord is responsible for maladministration.

Complaint Gas pipe and asbestos Finding Maladministration The landlord’s lettable standard does not say that it will remove gas pipes that are no longer required prior to letting a property. We have seen no evidence that suggests that the property was not at a lettable standard due to the gas pipe. There is evidence that the resident called the landlord on 19 September 2023 and advised it she wanted it to remove a gas pipe that was protruding from the living room floor. The landlord agreed to do this but acknowledged that it incorrectly logged the issue initially which caused delays.

This error cost the resident time and trouble attending an appointment with an electrician and contacting the landlord to chase the issue. The resident also advised the landlord that she had taken further time and trouble due to 3 missed or late appointments to rectify the issue. In its stage 1 complaint response the landlord agreed that operatives missed 1 of the appointments and said that it would investigate the other missed appointments further. However, we have seen no evidence that it did so or that it informed the resident of the outcome of the investigation.

This error meant that it did not find out the reasons for any missed appointments and compensate the resident accordingly. When a gas engineer attended on 27 October 2023, they found that they could not complete the work because the pipe was set in concrete. This caused further delays because a builder also needed to attend to dig up the floor so that the engineer could access the pipe. It was not until 10 November 2023, when the builder attended, that the landlord identified that the floor tiles may contain asbestos.

This further delay in identifying a possible asbestos issue meant that the resident was waiting longer for a resolution. The landlord’s asbestos awareness policy says that if its operatives discover or suspect asbestos, they should assess the risk before completing any repairs. If they consider that there is a risk they must stop all works, inform the resident, and review the issue. If there is still a suspected risk, the job is referred to the landlord’s asbestos team. The landlord would then arrange tests to confirm the presence of asbestos.

In this case the landlord arranged for a contractor to complete an asbestos survey on 1 December 2023, which was an appropriate action to take in the circumstances. The survey recommended that it removed the floor tiles from the living room and bedroom. The resident asked the landlord if it should have considered removing the floors while the property was empty. The landlord’s asbestos awareness procedure says that asbestos containing materials should usuallybe left undisturbed if they are not damaged.

It advised the resident that the floor was not damaged when it inspected it while the property was empty. We asked it for a copy of the void inspection report and any photographic evidence to support this. However, it has not provided this. This record keeping failure means that we are unable to fully investigate this element of the complaint. The landlord advised the resident that contractors could remove the flooring on 8 December 2023, however she asked it to start the work later, on 18 December 2023.

During completion of the work a gas leak occurred resulting in no hot water or heating at the property until the job was completed on 5 January 2024. The landlord failed to acknowledge that the leak had occurred and provide a timeframe for a resolution in its stage 2 complaint response. Although the resident was not living at the property at that time this issue caused her distress and inconvenience, particularly as it was during the winter. The landlord offered £100 compensation to the resident for the inconvenience caused and to reflect a missed appointment.

Our compensation guidance says that payments of £15 per day are appropriate for a loss of heating and hot water. In addition, payments of up to £600 are appropriate to put right failings where the landlord has made some attempts to put things right but failed to address the detriment to the resident. We have therefore ordered the landlord to pay the resident £270 for the loss of heating and hot water plus a further £250 to reflect the time, trouble, distress, and inconvenience caused by its other failings.

Complaint The handling of the complaint Finding Service failure The Housing Ombudsman’s complaint handling code (the Code) says that landlords must respond to stage 1 complaints within 10 working days of acknowledgement and stage 2 complaints within 20 working days of acknowledgement. In this case the landlord took 14 days to respond to the stage 1 complaint and 23 days to respond to the stage 2 complaint. Although the delays were not significant, there is evidence that the resident took time and trouble to chase a response.

Our compensation guidance says that payments of up to £50 are appropriate where the complaint response was delayed by several days and the resident was compelled to chase a response. Therefore, we have ordered the landlord to pay £50 compensation to the resident to reflect the time and trouble caused. Learning Knowledge information management (record keeping) The landlord should identify why it was unable to provide a copy of the void inspection report. Communication The landlord identified that the resident had asked for a gas engineer but the landlord logged the job for an electrician.