Hyde Housing Association Limited (202342051)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202342051

Hyde Housing Association Limited

25 July 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

The complaint is about the landlord’s:
1. payment of compensation, and implementation of the resident’s request for a reasonable adjustment following an earlier Ombudsman determination.
2. complaint handling.

Background

The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord since 2007. The property is a 2-bedroom flat. The landlord has recorded that the resident has vulnerabilities, including neurological problems, following a road traffic accident.
The Ombudsman issued a determination on 16 August 2023 regarding the resident’s earlier complaint. The landlord requested a review of the determination. We concluded our consideration of this on 23 November 2023. We said the landlord should now comply with the orders by 21 December 2023. These included that it should pay the resident compensation of £1,000. The orders said that “this amount is further to that which was offered to the resident during the landlord’s local resolution process”.
On 5 December 2023 the landlord sent the resident a compensation acceptance form setting out compensation of £1,000. In response to this, the resident told it he would not sign the form until it included the landlord’s earlier complaint reference number.
The landlord contacted the resident on 13 December 2023 and sent an email to him the same day. It said it had now included historical case reference information on a new compensation acceptance form.
The resident complained to the landlord on 1 January 2024. Among other things, he said:
1. the landlord was 20 weeks late paying the compensation ordered by the Ombudsman’s determination.
2. he wanted further compensation in recognition of this delay.
3. the Ombudsman’s determination set out that compensation of £1,000 was to be paid in addition to the amount previously awarded during the landlord’s complaint’s process.
4. the landlord had included the historical complaint reference on the third page only of its correspondence.
The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 11 January 2024. It said:
1. the delay paying compensation was due to its request for a review of the determination.
2. after the Ombudsman had issued its review decision on 23 November 2023 it had sent the resident an apology letter and compensation acceptance form on 5 December 2023.
3. it had contacted the Ombudsman to reconfirm the level of compensation that should be paid.
The landlord explained its position in respect of resident’s request that it add historical reference numbers to the compensation acceptance correspondence. It said that its standard approach was to use the Ombudsman’s case reference in this correspondence. However, it said that after it had spoken to the resident it had agreed to his request.
Following further correspondence from the resident in January and February 2024, the landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response on 19 February 2024. It noted the resident had said he did not consider it had provided sufficient information about the reasonable adjustment. The landlord said:
1. it had issued an updated compensation form after speaking to him on 13 December 2023.
2. after he expressed that he was unhappy with the placement of this information, it had spoken to him again on 30 January 2024.
3. it had reached an agreement with the resident that it would include the historical reference “at the top of the page to the right of the date and the address before the letter begins”.
The landlord responded to the resident’s concerns that it had not put in place a reasonable adjustments policy. It said that it had been working towards a vulnerability policy which detailed reasonable adjustments. It said this policy had been signed off in January 2024. It advised the resident that he could complete a service adjustment request if he had a request for a reasonable adjustment. Subsequently, following clarification from the Ombudsman on 19 February 2024, the landlord made a further payment to the resident of £50.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

The resident has raised concerns about communication restrictions he said the landlord recently put in place. In the interest of fairness, the scope of this investigation is limited to the issues that have completed the landlord’s formal complaints procedure. This is because the landlord needs to be given a fair opportunity to investigate and respond to any reported dissatisfaction with its actions prior to the involvement of this Service. Therefore our investigation will focus on the issues the resident raised with the landlord as a complaint in January and February 2024. These concerns related to the payment of compensation previously ordered by the Ombudsman, and the implementation of a reasonable adjustment request.
If the resident has concerns about any communication restrictions the landlord has put in place, it would be appropriate for him to raise this matter with the landlord in the first instance. This is to allow it the opportunity to consider the matter through its internal complaints procedure. He may then refer the matter to the Ombudsman once his complaint has exhausted the landlord’s complaint procedure.
The resident told us of his concern that the landlord has failed to adhere to its agreement to send him quarterly rent statements. As noted above, this investigation concerns the matters that were addressed by the landlord in its stage 1 and stage 2 complaint responses in January and February 2024. We note the landlord subsequently issued a stage 2 complaint response to the resident in December 2024, which addressed its provision of quarterly rent statements. Should the resident remain concerned about the landlord’s response to this matter, it would be open to him to refer this complaint to the Ombudsman for investigation under a new complaint reference.

Payment of compensation, and implementation of the resident’s request for a reasonable adjustment following an earlier Ombudsman determination

The landlord’s vulnerability policy, implemented in February 2024, states that it will make reasonable adjustments and put in place appropriate support mechanisms to ensure all residents can access its service.
The landlord operates a 2–stage complaints process. It aims to acknowledge stage 1 complaints within 5 working days and provide a full response within 10 working days. It aims to respond to stage 2 complaints within 20 working days.
In his complaint to the landlord of January 2024 the resident set out his concern that it had delayed paying compensation following the Ombudsman’s determination. In response to this the landlord explained that it had requested a review of the determination. It said it did not receive the outcome of this until 23 November 2023. It said it had contacted the resident on 5 December 2023 with its formal apology and to arrange payment of compensation, and this was in line with the new deadline for compliance. The landlord’s response and explanation to the resident on this point was reasonable.
The resident also raised concerns in his initial complaint that the landlord had not arranged to pay him the full amount of compensation ordered by the Ombudsman’s determination. He highlighted that the determination stated that the compensation ordered was in addition to the award made during the landlord’s earlier complaint response.
We acknowledge that the landlord took steps following the resident’s complaint to query with the Ombudsman the level compensation ordered. It reassured the resident that it would pay him any additional amount should the Ombudsman confirm this. It is also apparent that it acted quickly, after receiving a response from the Ombudsman on 18 February 2024, to pay an additional £50 to the resident. However, there was more the landlord could have done itself at the outset to establish the correct amount to be paid in line with the Ombudsman’s determination.
It should have been reasonably clear to the landlord from the orders of the report that the payment of £1,000 was to be made further to any payment that it had offered during its earlier complaint handling. There is no evidence the landlord took any steps to consider or check what amount it had previously offered to the resident, or whether that had been paid. Nor is there any evidence it fully reviewed the Ombudsman’s report, which detailed the £50 award it had made during its earlier complaint handling. The lack of action by the landlord to verify the amount it should pay is a failing.
The resident told the landlord at the beginning of December 2023 that he wanted it to include its historical complaint reference on the compensation acceptance form. The landlord explained to him on 11 December 2023 why it had used the Ombudsman’s reference number, rather than references from its internal complaints procedure. It said the complaints process had been exhausted, and the Ombudsman reference was now the most relevant for all parties.
The landlord also told the resident that, while it would not add old complaints references, he could add these to the form for his own personal records. That response was reasonable. Although the resident later said he believed the landlord had previously agreed with him that it would add historical references to correspondence, we have seen no records showing that was the case.
The resident sent a further email to the landlord on 13 December 2023. He outlined that he wanted the additional information added to documentation to ensure “mistakes aren’t made in the future”. Following this, the landlord spoke to him about his request. In its subsequent email setting out its discussion, the landlord said it was sorry for the upset caused to the resident. It noted he had explained why he had requested inclusion of old references, and that it had now added the information to the bottom of the form. Further, it asked him to confirm this was something he wanted it to add as a reasonable adjustment alert. These actions by the landlord were reasonable.
When the resident complained to the landlord on 1 January 2024, he raised concerns that it had included the historical reference number on the third page only. He also questioned why it had added a text box stating, “included on this occasion following request by [the resident]”. However, the landlord did not respond to his concern in its stage 1 complaint response.
We have seen no evidence it discussed the placement of the historical reference number until 30 January 2024. At this time, it recorded that it had spoken to the resident to agree a reasonable adjustment, and that historical reference numbers were to be placed to the top right of the page. Further, in its stage 2 complaint response of 19 February 2024 the landlord explained that it had included a text box so that its finance team, who processed the compensation, understood why an old reference had been included. But the landlord should reasonably have provided this explanation to the resident during its stage 1 complaint response. That it delayed doing so was a failing, which left the resident’s concerns about the issue without a full response for longer than was necessary.
The landlord sent out a further amended compensation form on 2 February 2024. The resident later expressed his unhappiness about this. But his email to the landlord of 30 January 2024 stated that he “only require[d] the compensation form amended”. The resident asked on 5 February 2024 that the landlord include all 3 pages of its response in a “single document”. It acted the same day to send the resident the apology letter and compensation form, with historical references included on both. The resident expressed his dissatisfaction that it had not done so earlier. However, the evidence shows the landlord acted in line with his request by initially sending an amended compensation form only.
We have seen that the landlord made efforts to understand and implement the resident’s request for it to include historical complaint references on determination correspondence. However, we also identified some failings in its handling:
1. there was more it could have done itself to establish the correct amount to be paid in line with the Ombudsman’s determination.
2. it delayed providing a full response to the resident’s concerns about the placement of historical reference numbers and why it had included a text box.
Overall, we have found service failure in the landlord’s payment of compensation, and implementation of the resident’s request for a reasonable adjustment following an earlier Ombudsman determination. In line with our remedies guidance we have ordered the landlord to apologise to the resident and pay him £75 compensation for the inconvenience and frustration this caused him.

Complaint handling

The landlord appropriately acknowledged the resident’s complaint within timescales set out in its complaints procedure. Both its stage 1 and stage 2 complaint responses were timely. We have found no maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Determination

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was:
1. service failure in the landlord’s payment of compensation, and implementation of the resident’s request for a reasonable adjustment following an earlier Ombudsman determination.
2. no maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders

Within 4 weeks of the date of this report the landlord should:
1. write to the resident to apologise for the failings we have identified in this report.
2. pay the resident compensation of £75 in recognition of failings in its payment of compensation, and implementation of his request for a reasonable adjustment following an earlier Ombudsman determination.