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Vico Homes Limited (202326893)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202326893

Vico Homes Limited

1 July 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 response to the resident’s concerns about staff conduct.

Background

  1. The resident has an assured tenancy with the landlord which is a housing association. The tenancy commenced on 31 August 2019. The property is a 2 bedroom house. At the time of the complaint the resident had post-natal depression.
  2. The landlord’s case notes show that during 2020 and 2021 it communicated with the resident about “unauthorised improvements” she had made to the property. During 2022 it communicated with the resident about issues relating to Antisocial Behaviour (ASB).
  3. In September 2023 a court granted a Suspended Possession Order (SPO) against the resident in relation to various tenancy matters including unauthorised improvements to the property.
  4. On 27 September 2023 the resident emailed the landlord to complain about the conduct of 2 members of staff. She said that they:
    1. Failed to consider her account of events during their investigation of her reports of ASB.
    2. Made an application for possession of her property despite her having post-natal depression for which she was prescribed medication.
    3. Failed to use the doorbell on her gate and walked through without being given access.
    4. Were too focussed on inspecting her property for unauthorised alterations.
    5. Lacked “basic communication skills.”
    6. Breached her confidentiality by speaking about her to neighbours.
    7. Stopped her progressing her Right to Buy application.
  5. On 4 October 2023 the landlord provided its complaint response, the main points being:
    1. It had not received any reports regarding ASB since 2022. Its Complaints Policy set out that it could only consider complaints raised within 6 months of the event occurring. Therefore the complaint could not be investigated under its policy.
    2. On 6 September 2023 the court granted an SPO with conditions. Its Complaints Policy also set out that it could not consider matters where legal proceedings had been issued. Therefore it could not consider her complaint about the members of staff’s decision to start legal proceedings.
    3. The resident’s Right to Buy application was received during September and closed on October 2022. Therefore the complaint about the process was outside its Complaints Policy because it occurred over 6 months ago.
    4. The complaint about the conduct of its staff in relation to unauthorised improvements fell outside its Complaints Policy. This is because these matters would be investigated internally and it could not share the outcome due to data protection.
    5. This was its final decision and it signposted the resident to us if she remained dissatisfied.
  6. The resident emailed the landlord on 11 October 2023 to say the member of staff had been untruthful in their communication with her. She also reiterated that she believed they had breached confidentiality.
  7. On 16 October 2023 the landlord wrote to the resident and referred her to its letter of 4 October. It confirmed that although her complaint about staff conduct fell outside its Complaints Policy it would carry out an internal investigation but would not share the outcome with her.
  8. The resident submitted an online complaint form to us on 6 November 2023 to ask us to investigate her complaint.

 

Assessment and findings

The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s concerns about staff conduct.

  1. The landlord’s Complaints Policy sets out complaints which fall outside the scope of the policy. These include but are not limited to complaints:
    1. Made 6 months after a problem occurred or the resident became aware of it.
    2. Where legal proceedings have been started or issued or concern matters that must be decided by a court.
    3. About the conduct of employees which will be investigated internally and in line with data protection legislation. The outcome must remain confidential and will not be disclosed to the resident.
  2. The Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) says that if a landlord decides not to accept a complaint, a detailed explanation must be provided to the resident setting out why the matter is not suitable for the complaints process and the right to take the decision to us.  The landlord’s complaint responses of 4 and 11 October 2023 in relation to the Right to Buy Process, court proceedings and reports of ASB were appropriately in line with the Code and its Complaints Policy.
  3. In her submission to us on 6 November 2023 the resident said she had been unable to raise her complaint earlier because she had post-natal depression.  While we do not doubt the resident’s account there is no evidence that she raised this with the landlord for it to consider accordingly. Therefore it is not possible to make a determination on this point.
  4. It is accepted that the landlord’s response to other aspects of the complaint relating to staff conduct was consistent with its Complaints Policy. It is also noted that its email to the resident of 16 October 2023 appropriately confirmed that it intended to investigate the complaint. On 27 June 2025 the landlord emailed us to confirm that it had carried out an investigation. It said it found no evidence to support the resident’s complaint.
  5. While this was positive, the landlord failed to contact the resident to confirm which aspects of the complaint would be considered by the investigation. It would also have been appropriate for it to set out what steps it would take to investigate and which policy covered the process.
  6. It is accepted that personal information, such as disciplinary matters, should not be shared. However, had it communicated the information set out above to the resident she could have been reassured that it took the complaint seriously and was carrying out a thorough investigation. It therefore follows that it would have been reasonable for the landlord to have informed the resident when the investigation was complete and broadly what the outcome was.
  7. The issues set out above amount to service failure because there was a minor failure in the service the landlord provided.  The landlord has been ordered to pay the resident £75 in line with the Ombudsman’s Remedies Guidance where the failure may not have significantly affected the overall outcome.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was service failure in the landlord’s response to the resident’s concerns about staff conduct.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of the determination the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Write to the resident to apologise for the failures identified in this report.
    2. Pay the resident £75 compensation for the distress caused by its failure in its response to the resident’s concerns about staff conduct.
  2. The landlord should provide evidence of compliance with the above orders within 4 weeks.