Thurrock Council (202127615)
REPORT
COMPLAINT 202127615
Thurrock Council
26 July 2024
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
- The complaint is about:
- The landlord’s handling of a dispute around the communal garden.
- The landlord’s handling of ASB reports.
Background
- The resident has a secure tenancy which began on 4 July 2016. The property in question is a 1-bed ground floor flat. The landlord has recorded that the resident is vulnerable due to medical conditions.
- In September 2021, the landlord investigated the resident’s concerns around her neighbour installing a fence in the communal garden area. It then investigated a further neighbour dispute in October 2021 about the resident leaving boxes in the communal area. Following its investigation, all residents were asked to clear all their belongings from the communal area. During this period, there were reports made to the landlord of disagreements between the resident and her neighbours.
- In March 2022, the resident raised a complaint that she felt she was being singled out by the landlord as other neighbours had not complied with the landlord’s request. The resident questioned why her neighbours had been allowed to erect fences in the communal garden area. She also raised concerns about the landlord’s management of her reports of ASB.
- The landlord provided a stage 1 response and said it would investigate her claims around communal gardens and take appropriate action. It said it would also investigate her concerns of ASB by her neighbour. However, it did not uphold her complaint.
- Following the stage 1 complaint, the landlord engaged with the resident and her neighbour regarding the allegations of ASB. The landlord offered mediation but this was declined by both parties.
- On 14 September 2022, the resident requested escalation of her complaint to stage 2. She said the landlord had not addressed the dispute around the communal area and further incidents of ASB. The resident was then issued with a Community Protection Warning on 23 September 2022, following an incident at the property.
- The landlord provided a stage 2 response in November 2022. It said it was unable to identify any issues with its management of the reports of ASB and it explained that concerns around the communal area were being addressed as part of a widescale project in the area.
- The resident brought the complaint to this Service for a formal review, as she remained unhappy with the outcome of the stage 2 complaint.
Assessment and findings
The landlords handling of a dispute around the communal garden
- Within the complaint submission, different matters were raised around the communal garden area. These have been addressed separately below.
Fences
- It is evident that when the resident raised concerns on 14 September 2021 about her neighbour installing a fence, the Tenancy Management team investigated her concerns. It attended the property and spoke to the neighbour, who provided a copy of the permission letter they had previously received.
- Following further investigation, the landlord identified that it had granted permission for the neighbour to erect a fence within the communal garden area. Internal landlord emails show that the Tenancy Management team found that permission had been provided without its knowledge or any prior consultation.
- Given the recorded history of disputes between some of the neighbours at the property, more careful consideration should have been given before granting permission. This demonstrates a lack of communication or adequate process at the landlord, which has later contributed to further disputes between those neighbours.
- The landlord did write to the neighbour in October 2021 and withdrew its permission for the fencing within the communal area. It said that this was because the area at the front of the property was a communal area. The letter explained that that it would remain a shared area and the neighbour would hold no ownership of that land.
- Having considered the landlord’s handling of the situation, it is the view of the Ombudsman that it addressed the concerns in a reasonable manner. However, it is understandable that the resident would remain unhappy with its actions, if the neighbours did not remove the disputed fencing.
- Having considered this element of the complaint, it is understandable that the resident could consider it unfair that a neighbour was given permission to install a fence in a communal area. However, following the resident’s concerns, the permission was withdrawn and the resident was assured that the area, regardless of any fencing, still formed part of the communal area. After reviewing the landlord’s handling of these concerns, it is the view of the Ombudsman that its actions were reasonable.
Items being stored in the communal area
- It is evident that in October 2021, following contact from a neighbour, the resident was asked to remove black storage boxes from the communal area. It was reported that the boxes were causing an obstruction. Internal landlord emails show that following this contact, it attended the property and identified that the resident’s boxes were not causing any obstruction.
- Following further complaints about the boxes, the landlord wrote to all residents on 23 November 2021 and asked that they remove any belongings from the communal area. Landlord records show that as some of the residents had not cleared the communal area, it sent follow up letters on 6 December 2021 and 5 January 2022.
- Given the continued reports of disputes around the use of the communal area, it was understandable that the landlord made the decision to ask all residents to remove any belongings from it. This blanket policy of not allowing any personal belongings in the communal area provided a fair outcome.
- It is evident that these initial steps did not lead to the communal area being cleared, as the resident raised similar concerns in their complaint in March 2022. However, following the concerns about use of the communal areas and gardens at the property, the landlord initiated a project in that area to address use of the communal gardens by the residents. The eventual decision on the project was to install a community garden at the rear of the property, for use by all the residents. Although this focused on the rear gardens rather than the front, which were the main cause of the complaints, this demonstrates a proactive approach by the landlord to try and alleviate tensions around the use of the communal areas.
- The landlord did take further action following the resident’s stage 2 complaint, as all residents were contacted again on 26 September 2022 and advised to clear the communal area at the front of the property. The landlord then attended site on 29 September 2022 and issued Section 41 notices, requesting appropriate action, to anybody that still had items in the communal area.
- Having considered the landlord’s management of this element of the complaint, it is clear that it made reasonable attempts to resolve the initial complaint. However, given the escalation of those complaints, it was understandable that it made the decision to apply a more severe approach in asking for all items to be cleared from the communal area. Although this process did take almost a year, the response can still be considered proportionate to the overall issue.
The landlord’s handling of ASB reports
- It is acknowledged that there was a history of ASB reports and neighbour disputes prior to the complaint being made on 11 March 2022. In line with paragraph 42(c) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, our investigation will only include complaints brought to the attention of the landlord within 12 months of the matter arising. Therefore, this investigation will only consider matters between 11 March 2021 and the end of the complaint process, 24 November 2022.
- It is evident that the landlord received ASB reports from the resident and her neighbour in September 2021, with both detailing instances of ‘name calling’. The landlord noted that it had also received a police report about an incident between the resident and her neighbour. Internal landlord emails show that following this, it attended the property and spoke to other neighbours about these incidents. The landlord identified that part of the dispute was linked to the disputes around use of the communal area.
- Internal landlord records show that it investigated the resident’s ASB concerns, and the counter allegations made by her neighbour. The landlord then visited the resident on 10 November 2021 and discussed the ongoing issues, providing her with diary sheets to complete as part of its ASB process. When the resident raised a further report, the landlord offered mediation but the resident declined its offer.
- It is clear that the disputes around use of the communal areas only served to aggravate an already fractured relationship between the resident and her neighbour. However, it is evident that the landlord acknowledged the resident’s ASB reports and took appropriate action to try and resolve them alongside its actions to address the communal area disputes, as detailed previously.
- The resident’s complaint in March 2022 references ASB but there had not been any recorded ASB reports from the resident since the landlord offered mediation in December 2021. In view of this, and as the previous reports had been dealt with in a reasonable manner, the landlord’s decision to not uphold that element of the complaint was reasonable.
- Within the complaint in March 2022, the resident raised concerns around her neighbour’s use of CCTV. The landlord investigated these concerns with her neighbour and identified that although permission had been given for the equipment, it was not being used in line with the guidelines it had set out for its use. In early April 2022, the landlord requested the removal of the CCTV camera. This shows that the resident’s concerns were acknowledged and dealt with in an effective manner.
- The resident did make a further ASB report prior to her complaint in September 2022, as she said that she had been verbally abused by other residents at the property. This was investigated with Police involvement and the outcome was that the resident was issued with a Community Protection Notice, for her involvement. This was issued with the intention of stopping the resident from verbally abusing other residents, using rude or obscene language loudly in communal areas and recording or taking photographs of residents without their consent. The complaint around the landlord’s handling of the ASB reports was not upheld.
- Having reviewed the landlord’s management of the complaint, it has shown that it acknowledged and investigated the resident’s ASB reports in a timely and reasonable manner. The landlord offered adequate methods by which the resident could provide further evidence of ASB and later offered mediation services with the aim of resolving the issues with her neighbours. Having considered its management of the ASB reports, it is the view of the Ombudsman that there was no maladministration.
Determination (decision)
- In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of a dispute around the communal areas.
- In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of ASB reports.