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Clarion Housing Association Limited (202414623)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202414623

Clarion Housing Association Limited

24 July 2024


Our approach

What we can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and is governed by the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. The Ombudsman must determine whether a complaint comes within their jurisdiction. The Ombudsman seeks to resolve disputes wherever possible but cannot investigate complaints that fall outside of this. 

In deciding whether a complaint falls within their jurisdiction, the Ombudsman will carefully consider all the evidence provided by the parties and the circumstances of the case.

The complaint

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of damage caused to a window in 2021.

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.

 

  1. 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 is a leaseholder of a 2 bedroom ground floor flat, subject to a lease granted in August 2002. The freehold of the building is held by the landlord housing association. The flat is occupied by the resident, his ex-partner and their daughter.

 

  1. On 30 March 2021 the resident reported to the landlord that his window had been shattered following an accident by one of its maintenance workers cutting grass. He requested urgent replacement and made the landlord aware of his ex-partner’s vulnerability.

 

  1. The landlord logged a job for replacement the same date and boarded up the window as emergency make safe works. It completed replacement of the window glazing in May 2021.

 

  1. On 12 May 2023 the resident made a complaint to the landlord about the delay to replacement of the window in 2021 and requested compensation. 

 

  1. On 19 July 2023 the landlord provided a response to the resident’s complaint. It set out a brief history of the window repair, noting it had made the window safe within emergency timescale and then replaced the window. It said that it had not received any further contact from the resident about the window until his complaint. Considering the age of the matter that it considered resolved 2 years prior and lack of interim contact, it would not investigate the complaint in line with its complaint policy.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 42(c) of the Scheme states that the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, were not brought to the attention of the landlord as a formal complaint within a reasonable period which would normally be within 12 months of the matters arising.

 

  1. The resident brought his complaint to the landlord in May 2023 about an event and timescale for repair that occurred between March and May 2021. His complaint was made 26 months after the window breakage and almost exactly 2 years after the final repair.

 

  1. The complaint was not raised to the landlord within a reasonable period of time. This service has not been made aware of any good reason why the resident was unable to bring his concerns to the landlord’s attention within a reasonable shorter period.

 

  1. Therefore, in accordance with paragraph 42(c) of the Scheme, the complaint is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.