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London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) (202306793)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202306793

London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q)

29 January 2025


Our approach

The Housing Ombudsman’s approach to investigating and determining complaints is to decide what is fair in all the circumstances of the case. This is set out in the Housing Act 1996 and the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme). The Ombudsman considers the evidence and looks to see if there has been any ‘maladministration’, for example whether the landlord has failed to keep to the law, followed proper procedure, followed good practice or behaved in a reasonable and competent manner.

Both the resident and the landlord have submitted information to the Ombudsman and this has been carefully considered. Their accounts of what has happened are summarised below. This report is not an exhaustive description of all the events that have occurred in relation to this case, but an outline of the key issues as a background to the investigation’s findings.

The complaint

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
    1. Rehousing application on medical grounds.
    2. Formal complaint.

Background

  1. The resident holds an assured tenancy of the property, which is a studio flat, within a block of flats. The landlord is a housing association.
  2. The resident raised a stage 1 complaint with the landlord on 11 May 2022. She said that she had been looking to move home and had not received assistance from the landlord. She said that the property was having a detrimental effect on her mental health and that she wanted the landlord to move her to a suitable one bedroom property. It acknowledged her complaint on 8 June 2022.
  3. The landlord sent a response to the resident’s stage 1 complaint on 23 June 2022. It said that the demand for rehousing had increased significantly since it had closed its transfer list in May 2021. It said it had suspended referrals into its rehousing service. It encouraged the resident to explore other housing options, such as a mutual exchange.
  4. The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 on 7 July 2022 and the landlord acknowledged her request on 12 July 2022. It said it could take up to 3 months to reply due to a backlog.
  5. Numerous emails were sent between the resident and the landlord from July 2022 to March 2023 concerning the resident’s request to be rehoused on medical grounds. This request was turned down by the landlord following a medical assessment made by an independent medical advisor in January 2023.
  6. The landlord sent the resident another acknowledgment of her stage 2 complaint on 31 August 2023, following the resident making contact with this Service. It sent its final response to the resident on 7 September 2023 and said:
    1. Her request to move on medical grounds had been independently assessed and it was unable to reassess her application to be rehoused on medical grounds.
    2. It apologised for any confusing or conflicting information it may have given and if the resident felt that she had been misled.
    3. It acknowledged that its stage 1 response did not fully address her concerns and that it had delayed the process and had not previously offered an apology. It apologised for its “poor complaint handling” and the effect this had on the resident.
    4. If the resident was able to obtain further, “decision changing medical evidence” they would “discuss this further”.
    5. It offered the resident £295 compensation made up of £185 for complaint handling failings and £110 for the distress caused in processing her medial assessment, and its lack of communication.
  7. In referring the matter to this Service in November 2023 the resident said she wanted the landlord to reassess the level of compensation offered and to review its decision to not offer her alternative accommodation on medial grounds.
  8. The resident informed us on 24 January 2024 that the landlord had issued court proceedings against her and a case was currently being dealt with in the County Court.

Jurisdiction

  1. Under paragraph 41(c) of the Scheme, the Ombudsman cannot consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, concern matters that are the subject of court proceedings or where the subject of court proceedings where judgement on the merits was given.
  2. The resident has informed us that the landlord has issued court proceedings against her due to her not residing at the property. She has confirmed to us that in response to those proceedings she has raised the issue of the landlord’s response to her request for rehousing on medical grounds.
  3. The resident’s complaint about the landlord’s handling of her rehousing application on medical grounds therefore concerns matters that are the subject of court proceedings.
  4. After carefully considering all the evidence, I have therefore determined that the resident’s complaint about the landlord’s handling of her rehousing application on medical grounds, is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. However we have considered the resident’s complaint about the landlord’s complaint handling below.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s formal complaint

  1. The landlord operates a 2 stage complaints process. It will log and acknowledge stage 1 complaints within 5 working days and send a full response no longer than 10 working days after logging the complaint. If it needs more time to reach a decision, it will explain why and write to the resident after no more than 10 working days. It will respond to a stage 2 complaint within 20 working days of the request to escalate the complaint. If it needs more time, it will explain why and write to the resident after no more than 10 working days.
  2. The Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code (the Code) in use at the time sets out how a landlord should respond to complaints. Under paragraph 5.1 a landlord should respond to a stage 1 complaint within 10 working days. If it needs a further 10 working days in exceptional circumstances, it must contact the resident to explain this. Any further delay beyond this must be agreed with the resident. It should escalate the complaint if asked to do so by the resident (paragraph 5.10) and should respond within 20 working days (paragraph 5.13).
  3. The landlord acknowledged the resident’s stage 1 complaint on 8 June 2022, 19 working days after the complaint was made. This was a failing under its complaints policy. It sent its stage 1 response to the resident 11 working days later on 23 June 2022, which was a failing under its policy and the Code. It did not fully address all the issues raised by the resident, as the landlord noted in its final response, which was a further failing under paragraph 5.6 of the Code.
  4. The landlord responded the resident’s stage 2 complaint on 7 September 2023, 294 working days after it acknowledged the complaint. This response was sent following intervention by this Service. This was a considerable failing under its policy and the Code.
  5. The landlord acknowledged delays during its complaints process, apologised for its poor complaint handling and offered £185 compensation. This amount however did not fully recognise the impact of its failings, especially of the considerable delays, and the time and trouble caused to the resident in chasing a response and having to contact this Service. Therefore, we have found maladministration and made an order for the landlord to pay the resident a further £165. This amount is in accordance with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance and reflects a situation such as this where the landlord has acknowledged failings and made some attempt to put things right, but the offer of compensation was not proportionate to the failings identified by our investigation.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 41(c) of the Scheme, the resident’s complaint about the landlord’s handling of her rehousing application on medical grounds, is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report the landlord is ordered to pay the resident compensation of £350 made up of:
    1. £185 previously offered by the landlord, if it has not already been paid.
    2. A further £165 for the time and trouble incurred by the resident as a result of its complaint handling failings. This amount should be paid direct to the resident and not used to offset any monies she may owe the landlord.