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Basildon Borough Council (202304509)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202304509

Basildon Borough Council

17 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

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
    1. concerns regarding the condition of his property at sign up;
    2. reports of a leak, damp, and mould.

Determination (jurisdictional decision)

  1. When a complaint is brought to the Ombudsman, we must consider all the circumstances of the case as there are sometimes reasons why a complaint will not be investigated.
  2. After carefully considering all the evidence, I have determined that the complaint, as set out above, is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Summary of events

  1. The resident reported a leak in his property to the landlord in November 2022. He stated that he had reason to believe that the leak had been present before his tenancy had begun in May 2022. In January 2023, he made a complaint to the landlord about the matter. The landlord issued him its stage 1 response in February 2023. It apologised for the delay in erecting the scaffolding, which had been necessary to carry out the works it had completed the previous month.
  2. In March 2023, the resident escalated his complaint to stage 2 of the landlord’s process. He said that the leak had reoccurred and that the landlord had not responded to his concern that the issue predated the start of his tenancy. The landlord issued him its stage 2 response in May 2023. It advised the further works that it intended. It explained its inspection process for empty properties and that there was nothing to suggest that the leak was present prior to his tenancy beginning.
  3. In August 2023, the landlord reissued its complaint responses to the resident following an instruction from us. It said that the resident had confirmed that the leak appeared to have been resolved by the works it had completed in May 2023. It advised him of an appointment to inspect the mould that he had reported in his property, which it completed the same month.
  4. In October 2023, the resident reported a reoccurrence of the leak to the landlord and made a further complaint about it the following month. He restated his belief that the landlord had been aware of the leak before his tenancy began. The landlord issued him its stage 1 response in November 2023. It said that, until his recent report, it had believed that the leak had been resolved in May 2023. It advised the further works it now intended. It further explained its process for inspecting empty properties.
  5. The resident chased the landlord regarding progress of his works over the following 2 months. The landlord told him that it was awaiting scaffolding. In January 2024, the resident advised it that he had taken legal advice and filed a disrepair claim.
  6. In February 2025, the resident told us that there were still works outstanding at his property. He stated that he had proof that the landlord was aware that the leak was present before his tenancy had begun. The landlord told us that the issues that the resident had reported were still not fully resolved. It advised us that his solicitor had issued legal proceedings against it. It provided us a copy of the claim form that was stamped by the court in January 2025.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 42.e. of the Scheme states that the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which in our opinion, “concern matters where a complainant has or had the opportunity to raise the subject matter of the complaint as part of legal proceedings”.
  2. Paragraph 41.c. of the Scheme states that the Ombudsman cannot consider complaints which in our opinion, “concern matters that are the subject of court proceedings or were the subject of court proceedings where judgement on the merits was given”.
  3. The resident’s complaint about the landlord’s handling of his concerns regarding the condition of his property at sign up is therefore outside of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction in line with paragraph 42.e. of the Scheme.
  4. The resident’s complaint about the landlord’s handling of his reports of a leak, damp, and mould is therefore outside of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction in line with paragraph 41.c. of the Scheme.