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Flagship Housing Group Limited (202408033)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202408033

Flagship Housing Group Limited

19 December 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 resident’s complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
    1. His request for a ‘management move’.
    2. A loss of heating to the property.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. His tenancy at the property began on 26 February 2018. The property is a 2 bedroom terraced house. It has a gas boiler and a separate electric immersion heater for hot water. The resident has health conditions affecting his mobility and relies on a wheelchair or walking frame. He also has diagnosed mental health conditions.
  2. In February 2020, the resident’s adult daughter moved out of the property. She relocated to a property approximately 30 miles away.
  3. On 21 April 2021, the local authority’s Occupational Therapy (OT) department wrote to the landlord. OT explained that the resident’s mobility issues made it difficult for him to use the stairs in the property and he used a wheelchair or walking frame when inside. It said it supported the resident being rehoused in a 1 bedroom ground floor property closer to his daughter – who was his support network.
  4. The resident made a complaint to the landlord on 17 May 2023. He said he had contacted it the previous week requesting a home visit to discuss moving him to a smaller property as he was struggling to afford his current home. He complained that the landlord had failed to arrange this. The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 19 May 2023. It apologised for its poor communication and said it had arranged to visit him on 12 June 2023.
  5. On 29 February 2024, the resident contacted the landlord asking to escalate his complaint to stage 2. He expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of progress on his move. The landlord said that, due to the time that had elapsed, it could not escalate his complaint. However, it agreed to log a new stage 1 complaint.
  6. The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 13 March 2024. It:
    1. Said that all management moves required the applicant to have a live housing application with the local authority they wanted to move to.
    2. Advised him to apply to the housing register of his daughter’s local authority.
    3. Signposted him to the mutual exchange process and Citizens Advice.
    4. Said it would arrange to visit him and “discuss things further”.
  7. The resident asked to escalate his complaint to stage 2 of the landlord’s process on 20 March 2024.
  8. The landlord visited the resident to discuss his complaint on 22 April 2024. During this visit he told the landlord that the central heating in the property was not working. He said he was using electric fan heaters to keep the property warm. During this visit the landlord and resident agreed to extend the timeframe for the landlord’s stage 2 complaint response to 21 May 2024.
  9. The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response on 24 May 2024. It:
    1. Apologised that its response was 3 days later than previously agreed.
    2. Said that it only offered management moves in rare “emergency/high risk situations”. Based on the current information it did not feel the resident’s case met these criteria.
    3. Signposted the resident to mutual exchange and the private rented sector as options for finding a move.
    4. Offered to support him in ensuring his application to the local authority was up to date and had the correct priority banding.
    5. Said that his gas system had been tested and reported as working fine on 1 August 2023. It had not received reports of any issues from the resident since then.
    6. Confirmed it had booked an appointment to address the issues with the central heating on 11 June 2024.
  10. The resident brought his complaint to the Ombudsman on 10 June 2024. He expressed continued dissatisfaction with the landlord’s handling of his management move request. He said he had been treated with “indifference” and “lied to” by the landlord.
  11. On 28 October 2024, the landlord informed the Ombudsman that it had now approved the resident for a management move.

Assessment and findings

Management move request

  1. The resident first approached the landlord regarding a transfer of property in 2021. The landlord’s complaints policy at the time of this complaint said that it would not consider complaints where “the issue occurred over 6 months ago”. This was in keeping with the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) at that time.
  2. The Ombudsman also notes that the resident raised a previous stage 1 complaint in May 2023. The landlord provided its response to this on 19 May 2023. This investigation will therefore focus on events since that stage 1 complaint response.
  3. In that stage 1 complaint response, the landlord arranged to visit the resident on 12 June 2023 to discuss to give him advice on moving property. The landlord contacted the resident on 12 June 2023 to advise it was unable to carry out the visit due to staff sickness. This was unavoidable and the landlord made efforts to rebook the appointment for as soon as possible.
  4. It is apparent the landlord had difficulty contacting the resident to rebook this appointment. This led to it carrying out an unannounced visit to the property on 23 June 2023. During this visit the landlord recorded that “the tenant is currently living and sleeping in his living room as he cannot get upstairs”. The resident asked for the landlord to provide a week’s notice for the rebooked appointment. The landlord arranged this for 10 July 2023.
  5. The landlord visited the resident on 10 July 2023 as arranged. During this visit the resident told the landlord he had applied to the housing register of the local he wished to move to. The landlord agreed to make enquiries about the possibility of offering him a management move.
  6. The landlord’s records show that it checked the local authority’s system and was unable to find the resident registered on there. The landlord’s ‘allocations, lettings and tenancy policy’ says that residents should “always contact [the local authority] in the first instance to discuss your housing needs and options”. Its ‘management move procedure’ also says that residents must register with the local authority. Until it could establish that the resident had done this, it was reasonable for the landlord not to consider a management move.
  7. Following this, the landlord contacted the resident to arrange to help him with his application to the local authority. It carried out a further home visit on 18 August 2023 to do so. During this visit the resident told the landlord that he would visit the local authority in person to complete his application. It was agreed that he would contact the landlord after he had done this.
  8. The resident contacted the landlord on 19 February 2024 to confirm he had now applied to the local authority’s housing register. He said he wished to discuss a management move with the landlord again. The landlord attempted to call the resident on 20 and 21 February 2024. It also sent him an email on 21 February 2024 asking for more information. The Ombudsman has not seen any evidence that the resident responded to these contacts.
  9. On 29 February 2024, the resident contacted the landlord again and it logged a stage 1 complaint on his behalf. In its stage 1 response, the landlord said that “all management moves … require housing applications to be made to the relevant council for the area you want to move to”. It failed to acknowledge that the resident had informed it that he had already done so or take steps to verify this as it had previously.
  10. The landlord did give the resident appropriate advice about other rehousing options. It also said it would arrange to visit him and discuss the matter further. This visit was originally arranged for 11 April 2024 but was rescheduled to 22 April 2024 due to the resident being unavailable. The resident had already requested to escalate his complaint to stage 2 prior to the landlord completing this visit.
  11. The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response on 24 May 2024. It explained that management moves “are quite rare and are used for emergency/high-risk situations”. It said that “based on the current information we have about your circumstances” it did not feel the resident met this need.
  12. The landlord’s ‘management move procedure’ states that a management move “should only be used when it meets exceptional tenant needs and/or is beneficial for Flagship Group”. It provides a list of examples which include “tenant has a medical need that is not met by their current home”, “tenant is at risk of harm in their current home” and “the home is underoccupied”. It is the Ombudsman’s view that the resident’s case met all 3 of these criteria. It would therefore have been appropriate for the landlord to offer him a management move at the point that he registered with the local authority as it required.
  13. The Ombudsman notes that the landlord reviewed its decision and approved the resident for a management move in October 2024. This Service has been provided with a copy of the management move request form. The grounds for a management move listed within this form were:
    1. Significant mobility issues which meant the resident was unable to climb the stairs at the property “without great difficulty”.
    2. The property was not adapted to suit the resident’s needs as he used a wheelchair when inside.
    3. The resident needed to be closer to his daughter, who was his only support network.
  14. It is the Ombudsman’s view that the landlord was already aware of these grounds in February 2024, when the resident notified it that he had now registered with the local authority. The landlord’s review of its decision appears to have been prompted after the resident had a fall within the property in September 2024, rather than any change in his material circumstances.
  15. The landlord has advised that it only owns 2 properties suitable for the resident’s needs in the areas to which he wishes to move. It says that neither of these properties has become available since they were first let in 2020. Due to this, the detriment to the resident caused by the landlord not considering him for a management move earlier is limited. Based upon this, the Ombudsman makes a finding of service failure.

Loss of heating

  1. The landlord’s records show that it capped the gas supply to the resident’s property on 4 May 2023, after 3 failed attempts to carry out the annual gas safety check. The landlord reinstated the resident’s gas supply on 1 August 2023. This was after the resident raised the matter during its home visit on 10 July 2023. The landlord recorded that the boiler was serviced, tested and left in working order on 1 August 2023.
  2. The Ombudsman has seen no evidence to show that the resident contacted the landlord to arrange the uncapping of his gas supply prior to this. However, it is of concern that the landlord has not evidenced any attempts to follow up with the vulnerable disabled resident after capping his gas supply. An order is made regarding this below.
  3. This service has seen no evidence of the resident bringing further issues with the heating in the property to the landlord’s attention prior to 22 April 2024. On this date the resident informed the landlord that his heating failed after being turned on for 2 minutes. He said he had been using fan heaters to keep the property warm.
  4. Despite being aware of this on this date, the landlord took until 11 June 2024 to restore the resident’s boiler to working order. The landlord’s repairs policy says for “total or partial loss of space or water heating between 30th April and 1st November” it will complete repairs within 3 working days. It says for “vulnerable or disabled tenants” it aims to respond the same day. The landlord failed to meet this commitment.
  5. The landlord’s ‘discretionary compensation policy’ allows it to make payments to cover “temporary loss of amenities or facilities” and “failure to provide services”. Considering the landlord’s failure to meet its service standards for loss of heating, it would have been appropriate for it to consider an offer of compensation to the resident. The landlord’s failure to do this means that the Ombudsman makes a finding of maladministration.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for a management move.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of a loss of heating to the property.

Orders

  1. Within 6 weeks of the date of this determination, the Ombudsman orders the landlord to:
    1. Pay the resident £350 compensation composed of:
      1. £100 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of his management move request.
      2. £250 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of a loss of heating at the property.
    2. Review its procedure after capping the gas supply of vulnerable and disabled residents to ensure that it makes direct contact with them and carries out appropriate welfare checks.
  2. The landlord should provide evidence of compliance with these orders to this Service.

Recommendations

  1. The Ombudsman recommends that the landlord contact the resident to discuss whether he is affected by the ‘bedroom tax’ on his current property and whether it would be appropriate to assist him with an application for a discretionary housing payment on the grounds that he is actively seeking to downsize.