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Hexagon Housing Association Limited (202230630)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202230630

Hexagon Housing Association Limited

24 February 2025


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 landlord’s provision of ground maintenance and cleaning, for which the resident pays a service charge.
    2. The landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the property, a 3-bedroom flat on the first floor of a low-rise block. He has lived at the property since September 2011.
  2. The resident contacted the landlord on 23 May 2022 to report several issues with internal and external cleaning and maintenance of the block, which he paid for in his service charge. He stated the issues remained outstanding from October 2020. The landlord carried out a site inspection on 21 July 2022 and noted the standard of cleaning and maintenance as good. The following month, the resident raised further concerns and stated the contractors had failed to make a number of visits.
  3. On or around 30 August 2022, the resident complained to the landlord about the cleaning and maintenance of his block. He said:
    1. Appointments had been missed to clean the inside of the block and maintain the gardens.
    2. The cleaning was not completed properly.
    3. The gardeners had not maintained the garden and did “very little” during their visits.
    4. Both services had been paid for by the resident for over 10 years and he asked the landlord to consider the financial impact on him.
  4. The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response on 3 October 2022. It said it had visited the property and accepted that some aspects of the work were not being addressed regularly. The landlord said it had agreed with its contractors to add on one item of improvement to each future visit to give the property the extra attention it needed.
  5. The resident escalated his complaint on 13 February 2023 and said the situation had not improved. On 7 August 2023, the landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response. It said it was sorry the resident felt he needed to escalate his complaint and apologised for the delay in its response. The landlord said:
    1. There had been a number of complaints raised over the years, and it was evident that the service did not always meet the standard expected.
    2. An inspection report dated 20 July 2023 confirmed the site was clean and safe, with some gardening aspects flagged for further attention.
    3. It would continue to work with the residents and contractors, to improve the service and if a pattern of poor service was noted, it would consider changing contractors.
    4. It did not agree that compensation was justified. However, it would provide an additional one-off service for the good of the estate.
  6. The resident remained dissatisfied and brought the complaint to this Service.

Assessment and findings

  1. Paragraph 53.c. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states that, “The Ombudsman may determine the investigation of a complaint immediately if satisfied that the member has made an offer of redress following the Ombudsman’s intervention which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint satisfactorily.”

The Ombudsman’s intervention

  1. This service contacted the landlord on 11 February 2025 and provided it with a summary of the Ombudsman’s understanding of the events. This included the Ombudsman’s provisional comments as to what the landlord could do to resolve the resident’s complaint.

The landlord’s offer of redress

  1. On 13 February 2025 the landlord provided this Service with evidence that it had acted on the Ombudsman’s provisional comments which would involve paying the resident a further £700 compensation.
  2. The resident has informed the Ombudsman that he is satisfied with this as a resolution to his complaint.
  3. The Ombudsman is therefore satisfied, following the intervention of this service, that the landlord has now taken actions to remedy the matters raised which resolve the complaint satisfactorily.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 53.c. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has made an offer of redress, following the Ombudsman’s intervention which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint satisfactorily.