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Clarion Housing Association Limited (202201299)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202201299

Clarion Housing Association Limited

29 January 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:
    1. The increase in service charges for the property.
    2. The landlord’s response to the resident’s concerns about the service charges and his request for information.

Background

  1. The resident is a leaseholder of a 3 bedroom, second floor flat. The landlord is the freeholder. The landlord does not have any vulnerabilities listed for the resident on its systems.
  2. On 7 February 2020 the landlord wrote to the resident to advise of the estimated service charges for the financial year 2020-2021. This outlined that the estimated service charge for the year was £876.96, to be paid in two instalments of £438.48. On 20 September 2021 the landlord wrote to the resident to advise of the actual service charges. This outlined that the actual charge was £1,537.91, an increase of £660.95 from the estimate.
  3. On 23 November 2021 the landlord wrote to the resident chasing payment of his outstanding account balance. In response, later that same day, the resident wrote to the landlord explaining that he was seeking legal advice concerning the charges. The resident specifically requested copies of invoices associated with the charges. The landlord acknowledged his email on 25 November 2021 but did not provide a response. The resident sent a further email querying the service charges on 25 April 2022 and a handwritten letter dated 3 May 2022.
  4. On 19 May 2022 the Ombudsman wrote to the landlord requesting it responded to the resident’s concerns under its complaints procedure. The landlord responded, at the first stage of its complaints process, on 8 June 2022. On 7 December 2022 the resident had further contact with the Ombudsman and on 4 January 2023 the Ombudsman requested the landlord provide a final response to the resident’s complaint. The landlord responded with its final response on 8 February 2023.
  5. In bringing his complaint to this Service the resident has said;-
    1. The variance between his estimated and actual service charges was unreasonable.
    2. The landlord has not provided any evidence supporting the new charges.

Assessment and findings

Jurisdiction

  1. What we can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. This is governed by the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. 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 cannot be investigated.
  2. In making his complaint to this Service the resident has said that the increase in service charge was unreasonable. This Service has considered whether this falls within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and, after carefully considering all the evidence, in accordance with paragraph 42.d of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the increase in service charges for the property is outside of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. Paragraph 42.d of the Scheme states that the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion …”concern the level of rent or service charge or the amount of rent of service charge increase.”
  3. The resident may be able to apply to the First Tier Tribunal, which has the expertise and authority to consider the reasonableness of the service charges and any increase.

Policies and procedures

  1. The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 22 states, ‘(2) The tenant, or the secretary with the consent of the tenant, may within six months of obtaining the summary require the landlord in writing to afford him reasonable facilities- (a) for inspecting the accounts, receipts and other documents supporting the summary.’

Requests for information

  1. On 23 November 2021 the resident contacted the landlord outlining his concerns about the actual service charge bill for the period 2020-2021. The resident requested that he was provided with invoices so he could verify himself that the charges are justified. The landlord acknowledged the resident’s email on 25 November 2021, however, never responded to the resident’s queries.
  2. While oversights can happen, it was unreasonable the landlord did not provide the information as the landlord is required under Sections 21 and 22 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, to provide resident’s with information about service charges.
  3. On 25 April 2022 the resident sent a further email to the landlord. This outlined the resident’s intention to seek a judgement from the First Tier Tribunal on the reasonableness of the charges. It asked the landlord if it would contact the First Tier Tribunal or if the resident should do this. The landlord did not respond to or acknowledge this email which was unreasonable and led to further delay.
  4. Having not received a reply on 3 May 2022 the resident sent a handwritten letter to the landlord with the same queries as his previous email. The landlord acknowledged his letter on 11 May 2022 and confirmed this had been passed to the service charge team to respond to.
  5. On 19 May 2022 the Ombudsman wrote to the landlord requesting it responded to the resident through its complaints procedure. The landlord provided its first stage response on 8 June 2022.
  6. The response acknowledges the landlord’s failure to respond to the resident’s initial enquiries and offers £50 compensation for this. This was an appropriate finding, however, it is the Ombudsman’s opinion the compensation offered does not accurately reflect the inconvenience caused to the resident.
  7. In his email to this Service of 13 February 2023 the resident has said he has ‘seen zero evidence in form of invoices supporting’ the actual service charges for 2020-2021. However, it is noted that the stage one response states ‘I have also sent all invoices for the service descriptions below attached with this letter’ above a summary breakdown of costs. Further to this the landlord has also provided evidence of an email sent to the resident shortly before it final response which states ‘Please see attached invoices for service charges. I will now forward complaint closure letter.’
  8. Given this, while unclear which invoices were provided, it is the Ombudsman’s opinion that supporting evidence was provided with the resident’s stage one response. This was appropriate and in-line with the landlord’s obligations under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.
  9. On 29 September 2022 the landlord emailed the resident what appears to be an email meant for another resident. It concerned payment of compensation and was incorrectly addressed. This was a oversight on behalf of the landlord, however, it did cause additional confusion and frustration for the resident.
  10. Overall, the Ombudsman has found there was a service failure due to the landlord’s delay in providing information to the resident.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in respect of the landlord’s handling of the resident’s requests for information about his service charges.

Orders

  1. The landlord should take the following action within 4 weeks and provide evidence of compliance with these orders to the Ombudsman:
    1. Pay the resident the sum of £100 compensation for delays and inconvenience caused in its handling of his service charge queries. Please note this can be reduced by £50 if the £50 offered at stage one has already been paid.
    2. Provide the resident with the relevant invoices to allow his inspection of the service charge accounts for 2020-2021 as he has said he did not receive these previously.

Recommendations

  1. If the landlord has not done so already it should report the data breach which occurred on 29 September 2022 to its Data Officer.