Applications are open to join the next Housing Ombudsman Resident Panel – find out more Housing Ombudsman Resident Panel.

Haringey London Borough Council (202313685)

Back to Top

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202313685

Haringey London Borough Council

5 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 complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request to update her household details on her tenancy file.
  2. The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident is the secure tenant of the property, which is a one-bedroom flat. The landlord is a council. The tenancy started on 27 January 2020.
  2. On 20 October 2020 the resident completed the landlord’s change of household form and emailed it to ask it to add her new baby and her partner to her household details. She emailed the landlord again on 5 August 2021 to chase her request and resent identification documents to support her request. She visited the landlord’s offices on 22 December 2021 and provided the identification documents again, which the landlord scanned. It then sent an internal email asking for her file to be updated.
  3. The resident called the landlord on 12 January 2022 to chase up her request. In an internal email the landlord said she had previously provided her son’s birth certificate and her partner’s passport and asked for her file to be updated. She visited the landlord’s offices on 14 March 2023 and 11 April 2023 to chase up her request.
  4. On 15 April 2023 the resident emailed the landlord to make a stage 1 complaint which was about having been waiting years for her household details to be updated. She said she had completed its form online and sent this via email, as well as having attended its offices several times.
  5. The landlord provided its stage 1 response on 2 May 2023 and said it was sorry that it had not responded to her requests. It also said the resident needed to provide proof of resident for a 12-month period for her partner.
  6. On 5 May 2023 the resident sent the landlord the document it required. She emailed it on 16 May 2023 and asked to escalate her complaint. She said it had taken the landlord 2 years to tell her she needed to provide proof of residence, and then had not replied once she had sent this. The landlord acknowledged receipt of the document on 18 May 2023. It acknowledged escalation of the complaint on 5 June 2023 and asked for 20 working days to respond from that date. It requested a further extension of time on 30 June 2023.
  7. The landlord wrote to the resident on 6 July 2023 and said it had updated her household details. It provided it stage 2 response, also dated 6 July 2023, on 14 July 2023 in which it:
    1. Accepted it had not responded to or acted upon her requests and apologised.
    2. Apologised for its delay in confirming it had received her email sent on 5 May 2023.
    3. Said her tenancy file had not been updated by would be by 22 July 2023.
    4. Accepted there had been a service failure and offered £50 compensation.
    5. Said how she could contact this Service if she remained dissatisfied.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident has told this Service that because of her household details not being updated she has been unable to apply for a larger home. She said that when she was finally able to apply to the council for a move, she was not happy with her priority banding and felt it should have been higher. While the Ombudsman recognises the inconvenience caused to the resident this investigation has not been able to consider her rehousing application.
  2. As the landlord is a council, its rehousing functions are not part of its role as a landlord but are those of its role as a Local Authority. Under paragraph 41(d) of the Scheme, the Ombudsman cannot consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, concern matters in respect of Local Housing Authorities in England which do not relate to their provision of management of social housing. The resident may wish to contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman if she wishes to pursue a complaint about her rehousing application.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s request to update her household details on her tenancy file

  1. The landlord does not have or has not provided a policy which covers updating a resident’s household details on their tenancy file. It has provided the council’s allocations policy, which states applicants must update the council with any changes to their application and provide proof of identity and residence for any additional people to be added.
  2. There is evidence that the resident asked the landlord to update her household details in October 2020. At this stage the landlord should have added her new son. It should have explained that her partner would need to live with her for 12 months before being added, as it said this was its policy in its stage 1 response. However, it failed to reply to the resident. There is evidence it received her email as it provided an automatic reply which said it would respond to enquiries within 10 working days.
  3. The resident made multiple requests between October 2020 and April 2023 when she made her complaint. The landlord failed to reply to any of these requests, which was a fundamental failing in communication. In addition, at no point did it advise the resident she needed to provide proof of 12 months’ residence for her partner, including when she visited the landlord’s offices in person, which was a further significant failing. This failing suggests that the landlord’s staff did not know its policy on updating household details.
  4. When the resident provided proof of residence the landlord did respond within 10 working days, however, it did not provide a timeframe for the changes to be made. By the date it updated her file 2 years and 8 months had passed since her initial request, which was an inexcusable delay.
  5. Within its stage 2 response the landlord correctly admitted that it had not replied to the resident and had delayed in updating her household details. It could not provide any explanation for this but offered £50 compensation.
  6. In relation to the failures identified, the Ombudsman’s role is to consider whether the redress offered by the landlord put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. In considering this the Ombudsman takes into account whether the landlord’s offer of redress was in line with the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles: be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes, as well as our own guidance on remedies.
  7. The landlord failed to communicate with the resident for over 2 and a half years. It failed to complete a simple administrative task of updating a tenancy file. It provided no reason for its errors. There was maladministration, which caused substantial frustration, distress, inconvenience, time and trouble for the resident, who felt like she was being ignored. To reflect the impact an order has been made that the landlord pay £400 compensation, which is in line with our guidance on remedies.

The landlord’s complaint handling

  1. When the resident made her stage 1 complaint there is no evidence the landlord acknowledged it within its complaints policy timeframe or at all, which was a failing. It provided its stage 1 response within its 10-working day policy timeframe and in compliance with the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) in use at the time. However, it failed to fully address the complaint by not providing an explanation or any offer of redress, in breach of paragraphs 5.6 and 5.8 of the Code.
  2. The landlord failed to acknowledge escalation within its policy timeframe. It did acknowledge the stage 2 complaint after 13 working days, but then asked for an extension of 20 working days. It did not provide a good reason, stating backlog as the reason, and this was a breach of paragraph 5.13 of the Code. It requested a further extension of time, out of time, again without providing good reason or exceptional circumstances and failed to agree this with the resident in breach of paragraph 5.14 of the Code.
  3. When the landlord provided it stage 2 response on 14 July 2023 it incorrectly dated it 6 July 2023. The response included incorrect information about the status of the resident’s household details update. It was correct on 6 July 2023, but not by the date the resident received the response which was a further failing. The landlord also failed within its response to recognise, apologise, or offer redress for its complaint handling failings. The resident had waited 42 working days against a policy timeframe of 20 working days.
  4. There was maladministration which caused further inconvenience, time and trouble for the resident. The fact that her complaint was partly about the landlord’s poor communication made the effect of its delays in complaint handling worse. To reflect this an order has been made that the landlord pay £150 compensation to the resident.

Determination

  1. In accordance with Paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in relation to the landlord’s:
    1. Handling of the resident’s request to update her household details on her tenancy file.
    2. Complaint handling.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Provide a written apology to the resident for the maladministration detailed in this report.
    2. Pay directly to the resident £550 compensation made up of:
      1. £400 for the frustration, distress, inconvenience, time and trouble caused by its failings in handling her request to update her household details.
      2. £150 for the inconvenience, time and trouble caused by its complaint handling failings.
    3. Provide additional training, or a training document, for its office staff covering which documents are required for a resident to change their household details, so that they advise residents.
    4. Confirm compliance with these orders to this Service.

Paragraph 49 investigation

  1. The Ombudsman completed a special investigation report in July 2023 into the landlord using its systemic powers under paragraph 49 of the Scheme. It found the landlord responsible for a series of significant systemic failings impacting residents. These included “a culture of apathy… a distinct lack of ownership, accountability, and intrinsic motivation when handling complaints. Where shortfalls are identified, there is no evidence of learning to prevent these failings reoccurring, and little evidence of contrition or a resolution-focused approach to complaints handling”.
  2. The Ombudsman required the landlord to make changes including improvements to its complaint handling. As the events of the current complaint took place before the time the report was published, no orders or recommendations about complaint handling have been made in addition to those made within the special report.