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A2Dominion Housing Group Limited (202215451)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202215451

A2Dominion Housing Group Limited

29 August 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

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s enquiries about the service charges associated with the property.
  2. The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s handling of the formal complaint.

Background and summary of events

  1. The resident is a leaseholder and the landlord is a housing association.
  2. On 28 March 2022 the resident submitted a formal complaint stating that he had received a service charge estimation in February 2022 which was high and unreasonably explained. He set out the actions he would take (withholding or amending the payment of service charges) until the landlord could provide a full and clear summary of the service charge accounts. He also reported a missed call back and that his online account was blocked.
  3. In the landlord’s stage 1 response of 26 April 2022, it detailed the actions which had been taken in February 2022 in relation to the resident’s queries and its responses. It noted that the resident had reported that he: had not received a copy of the service charge accounts within a management pack; received a welcome pack 3 months after purchasing the property; asked for clarification on how estimates were calculated; and reported access issues to his online account. 
  4. The landlord apologised for the resident’s experiences and said it would speak to its leasehold team to ensure they provide clear information to customers. It apologised for the 3–month delay in providing the welcome pack which was due to new staff. It had resolved the resident’s online access issues and awarded £30 for the delayed welcome pack (to be deducted from any rent arrears).
  5. The landlord was due to provide the resident with the requested information by 6 May 2022. The resident reported in his complaint escalation of 17 May 2022 that the landlord had failed to address his concerns and he repeated his query about how charges were calculated and his report that he had unreasonably high estimates provided to him, without explanation.
  6. The resident also disputed events in the stage 1 response, stating that the member of staff never called him (as stated by the landlord) and instead he had to contact them and chase this himself. He also disputed the landlord’s timeline of events and referenced his own account of his calls and emails to the landlord in February and March 2022. He found it unprofessional that he received a welcome pack 3 months late without apology or much explanation, and he questioned the timeframe given by the landlord for him to provide his further comments on the complaint.
  7. In the landlord’s stage 2 response of 13 July 2022, it apologised multiple times for the acknowledged errors in its earlier response (with respect of the timelines and details), but explained that it did not have evidence of all the contact the resident referred to. In respect of the service charge query, which was the resident’s central concern, it explained that this was assigned to a team manager who would be in touch (as the staff member previously dealing with the issue was on personal leave). It repeated its offer of £30 for the information pack being provided late.
  8. The resident (via his representative) escalated his complaint to the Ombudsman on 16 October 2022. He said that the landlord had still not explained the different estimates of the service charges to him and why he was paying a portion towards external agents. He wanted the landlord to provide a clear explanation of the service charge increase and a breakdown of how the costs were incurred and calculated.
  9. The evidence indicates that the resident made an application to the First Tier Tribunal, Property Chamber (the Tribunal) and, in 2023, the landlord awarded the resident payment under direction of the Tribunal. Full details of the application and outcome have not been provided to this investigation. In 2024 the resident told the landlord that he made his payments under protest, for the new rent and service charges.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The Ombudsman is unable to consider concerns about the level of service charges or the amount of a service charge increase (reflected at paragraph 42(d) of the Scheme). These matters are best dealt with by the Tribunal, and the parties have already engaged with that process. As a result this investigation does not comment on the level of the service charge, or the outcomes or awards associated with the Tribunal’s decision. Instead, this Service has focused on the landlord’s handling of the resident’s enquiries, and his requests for supporting information about the service charges, to determine whether its response was reasonable in all the circumstances of the case.
  2. With regard to his more recent concerns about the 2024 service charges, the resident may wish to consider seeking independent advice on his options in that regard. If he remains dissatisfied with the landlord’s response, he should consider making a new formal complaint and/or application to the Tribunal, as necessary. This Service could only consider these more recent issues once they have exhausted the landlord’s complaints process (as reflected at paragraph 42(a) of the Scheme). 

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s enquiries about the service charges associated with the property

  1. The landlord’s Service Charge Policy states that residents will receive a detailed summary of costs in the estimated service charges that accompany annual rent increase notices, and charges will be fully itemised on the summarises provided. In this case, the resident requested clarification and further details about the estimates and costs incurred after receiving notice of the charges, and he reported missing information in the referenced packs which the landlord provided.
  2. The landlord did not then respond reasonably as it failed to explain the service charge estimates and calculations, and missed the opportunity to provide this  in the stage 1 and 2 responses. Having then missed the given deadline for providing the information, the landlord advised that he would be contacted in due course. However, in his submissions to the Ombudsman of October 2022 (7 months after the complaint was made), the resident advised that he had still not received an adequate response from the landlord. Therefore, there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate that the landlord reasonably addressed the resident’s requests for information.
  3. The remainder of the landlord’s response was reasonable, as it proactively identified service failure in not providing a welcome pack on time for the resident, and attempted to address the individual issues that were raised in the complaint escalation. It investigated these issues and provided an explanation and an apology, particularly where the resident highlighted that it had failed to do this previously, which was resolution focused.
  4. The landlord reasonably offered £30 compensation for its acknowledged service failure in the delay in providing the welcome pack. The landlord’s approach to manage compensation with outstanding rent arrears for this issue was in line with its Compensation Policy, and therefore appropriate. This states that deductions can be made from payments for amounts owed by the resident to the landlord, for rent arrears or service charge payments.
  5. The evidence demonstrates that the landlord made a reasonable attempt to address the resident’s complaint in several areas. However, this was limited in terms of resolving the resident’s key concern about the lack of explanation for disputed service charges, which he repeated several times without a resolution. Therefore, there was service failure by the landlord, resulting in the resident expending undue time and trouble to resolve the matter. As a result, the landlord is ordered to pay £50 compensation, in line with the Ombudsman’s Remedies Guidance for this level of service failure. This is in addition to the £30 already offered under the complaint, for the landlord’s acknowledged service failure of the delay in providing a welcome pack. 

The landlord’s handling of the formal complaint

  1. The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) states that landlords must respond within 10 working days to stage 1 complaints, and 20 working days to stage 2 complaints. In this case, the stage 1 complaint of 28 March 2022 was responded to on 26 April 2022, in excess of the Code’s prescribed timescale. The stage 2 complaint of 17 May 2022 was responded to on 13 July 2022, 19 days over the prescribed timescale.
  2. The evidence indicates that the landlord adjusted the timescales at one point to take into account the bank holiday dates. However, overall the landlord’s complaint responses were unreasonably delayed. The landlord missed the opportunity to address this and put things right under the formal complaint, in contravention of the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles. The Ombudsman therefore finds service failure, and the landlord is ordered to pay £50 compensation for time and trouble, in line with the Ombudsman’s Remedies Guidance for service failure.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure in respect of the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
    1. Enquiries about the service charges associated with the property.
    2. Associated formal complaint.

Orders and recommendations

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to pay the resident £100 compensation for the time and trouble comprised of:
    1. £50 for the service failure in the landlord’s response to the resident’s queries about the service charges.
    2. £50 for the service failure in the landlord’s handling of the formal complaint 
  2. The landlord is also recommended to pay the original compensation of £30 offered under the formal complaint process, if it has not done so already.