The Housing Ombudsman has published a severe maladministration finding for A2Dominion Housing Group, due to its failure to fix various problems with a resident’s heating and hot water supply over a number of years.
The Ombudsman’s investigation found severe maladministration by A2Dominion in its handling of repairs to the heating and hot water.
The Ombudsman ordered A2Dominion to:
- pay total compensation to the resident of £750
- apologise to the resident
- arrange an inspection of the resident’s heating and hot water system, identifying any parts of the system that repair, servicing or replacement
- provide the resident with a document setting out the responsibilities of all relevant parties (landlord, managing agent and freeholder) in respect of heating and hot water issues and
- provide the resident with a document setting out the details of the responsibilities of its contractors and internal teams in respect of heating and hot water issues.
A2Dominion was also subject to four Complaint Handling Failure Orders in the Ombudsman’s latest quarterly report covering July to September 2022.
Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway said: “there was no clear arrangement for resolution of heating and hot water issues. There were significant failings in the overall management of the scheme as it is vital for landlords to have proper agreements in place with the managing agent or freeholder, with clarity around roles and responsibilities. This is an issue which I see too often in our casework and our concerns have been set out in two Spotlight reports over the last two years. Both the landlord and wider sector should revisit these reports, particularly our focus on managing agents published in March which set out our serious concerns that landlords may not always have clear and effective liaison in place with managing agents or freeholders”.