A2Dominion Housing Group Limited (202334443)
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REPORT
COMPLAINT 202334443
A2Dominion Housing Group Limited
21 March 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
Background
- The resident is a leaseholder of the landlord, a housing association. The resident has lived at the property, which is a third floor flat since 2008.
- The resident requested in 2021 and 2022 that the landlord install a lift in her building. The landlord declined the request explaining it could not install a lift due to a lack of space and the complexity of the installation. The resident asked the landlord in March 2022 if she could ask lift companies to complete a survey. The landlord agreed to the resident arranging a visual inspection only in May 2022.
- The resident raised a stage 1 complaint with the landlord on 19 June 2023. She explained the difficulty she experiences climbing the stairs to her property. She said she had contacted lift companies, who had provided a plan for how to install a lift. The resident requested that the landlord install a lift at her property. The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 4 July 2023. It said it had referred the request to its property manager and would respond by 18 July 2023.
- The resident escalated her complaint on 19 July 2023. She said she had not received a response from the landlord. She provided quotes to install a lift. The landlord provided its stage 2 response on 18 August 2023. it said that for it to install a lift, all leaseholders in the building would need to agree. It explained the potential cost implications that each leaseholder could incur if it installed a lift based on the quotes provided. It asked the resident to confirm if she wished for it to proceed with consultation works. The landlord apologised that it had not responded to the resident earlier. It offered her compensation of £100 for poor communication. The resident responded on 21 August 2023 asking the landlord to proceed with the consultation.
- The landlord wrote to all the leaseholders on 23 August 2023 about the proposal to install a lift, but did not receive agreement from all of them. It concluded it could not proceed as not all leaseholders agreed.
- The resident asked us to investigate her complaint on 5 December 2023. She said she was unhappy with the outcome. She considered the landlord could use the sinking fund and its property development fund to cover the cost of installing a lift.
Assessment and findings
Scope of investigation
- Paragraph 42.c of the Scheme says that the Ombudsman may not consider complaints, which in the Ombudsman’s opinion were not brought to the attention of the member as a formal complaint within a reasonable period which would normally be within 12 months of the matters arising.
- The resident has advised us of an issue about the accuracy of information provided to her during the sales process while buying her flat in 2008. This issue has not been through the landlord’s internal complaint process. In addition, the resident has not raised this within the landlord within 12 months of the matter arising. Because of that, we will not consider this issue in this investigation.
- The resident has explained the landlord has various options to fund the lift installation. She needs to raise these with the landlord and explore their feasibility. It is not within this investigation’s remit to consider them.
The landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for it to install a lift in her building.
- In its stage 1 complaint response, the landlord said it had forwarded the new information about installing a lift to its property manager. It said the resident should receive a response by 18 July 2023. It was a failure in service that the landlord did not provide a response by the date agreed.
- It was appropriate for the landlord to acknowledge and apologise for this failing in its stage 2 complaint response. In addition, it was reasonable for the landlord to explain its obligations under the lease and what actions it would need to take regarding the proposed lift installation.
- The evidence shows that following the resident agreement for the landlord to proceed with a consultation, it contacted all the leaseholders within 2 days. The landlord then provided the outcome of the consultation to all the leaseholders on 18 September 2023. It confirmed that it would be unable to proceed with the proposal to install a lift. It was appropriate for the landlord to keep to the actions it agreed to take in its stage 2 complaint response.
- The landlord offered the resident compensation of £100 for its failures in communication. This amount reasonably reflected the delay in responding to the resident and demonstrated the landlord’s appreciation of their effect on the resident.
- The landlord’s recognition of the impact its failings had on the resident, along with its apology and financial redress, reasonably put things right and resolved the complaint.
Determination
Recommendations