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East Riding of Yorkshire Council (202308393)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202308393

East Riding of Yorkshire Council

21 November 2024


Our approach

What we can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and is governed by the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the 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 concerns about fire doors.

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 has been a secure tenant of the landlord, a local authority, since 2019. The property is a 1 bedroom flat in a block.
  2. In March 2022, the Fire Service issued an enforcement notice to the landlord about fire doors in the block. The landlord replaced the doors in November 2022.
  3. On 11 March 2023, the resident raised concerns about the doors that had been replaced and said he did not believe they were fire doors. The landlord treated this as a complaint and provided a stage 1 response (although not labelled as such) 5 days later. It confirmed that the works completed had been inspected and signed off by the Fire Service.
  4. The resident replied that he had been ignored by the landlord and disputed that some of the doors fitted were fire doors. The landlord treated this as an escalation request and on 6 April 2023, it provided its stage 2 response. It confirmed that the works had been inspected and signed off by the Fire Service, so it was satisfied that it had met all fire safety requirements.
  5. The resident contacted this Service in June 2023 and, in response, this case was opened (reference 202308393). In subsequent contact with the Ombudsman between August 2023 and March 2024, the resident raised a number of issues, including his concerns about the fire doors.
  6. In June 2024, this case was reviewed and the resident was informed that the specific complaint it related to was about the landlord’s response to his concerns about the fire doors only. The resident did not challenge this definition of the complaint. Therefore, the other issues raised by the resident in his correspondence with this Service, do not form part of this assessment.

Reasons

  1. When the resident contacted the Ombudsman in June 2023 and case ref. 202308393 was created in respect of the fire door complaint, it was not identified by this Service that he already had a case with us concerning the same issue. Case ref. 202202376 had been created in May 2022 and related to the resident’s concerns about 4 points of complaint, including the fire doors. As a result this case (reference 202308393) was a duplicate case created in error.
  2. Case ref. 202202376 was determined on 8 October 2024, and the Ombudsman found that there had been no maladministration by the landlord in respect of the resident’s complaint about its handling of his concerns about fire doors. The investigation included an assessment of the landlord’s response to the resident’s concerns about fire doors over the same timeframe as set out above. The Ombudsman has seen no evidence of new matters or concerns in respect of this issue.
  3. Paragraph 42.l of the Scheme states that the Ombudsman may not consider a complaint where it seeks to raise again matters which the Housing Ombudsman has already decided upon. As this Service has already investigated and decided upon the resident’s fire door complaint, we will not consider the same complaint again under this case.
  4. The Ombudsman recognises that the fire doors were a significant concern for the resident. However, we are satisfied that the investigation carried out under case ref. 202202376 fully considered the resident’s concerns about this issue. Therefore, in this case, the landlord’s response to the resident’s concerns about fire doors is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction, in accordance with paragraph 42.l of the Scheme, and will not be investigated further.