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London Borough of Islington (202322270)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202322270

Islington Council

21 March 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 the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for a copy of the original terms and conditions of his tenancy.
  2. We have also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord, a local authority. His tenancy started in 1999.
  2. Following a request from the resident in April 2023, the landlord sent him a copy of his signed tenancy agreement. In May 2023, the resident contacted the landlord again. He requested the signed tenancy agreement, including the terms and conditions. He said he had previously been sent only a 1–page grant of tenancy document.
  3. The landlord responded to the resident on 17 May 2023. It attached a conditions of tenancy document of June 2013. It said these were the current tenancy conditions and had been revised in June 2023.
  4. In August 2023, the resident contacted the landlord again. He said he had previous requested his signed tenancy agreement along with the terms and conditions but had instead been sent an “electronic version of a leaflet”. He asked that the landlord provide him with the signed “official document”.
  5. Later in August 2023 the landlord recorded that it had called the resident. It noted he had asked for clarity on whether his signed tenancy agreement included the terms and conditions. The landlord detailed that it had told him that the terms and conditions of the tenancy was a “fluid” document which was updated in accordance with its policy.
  6. At the end of August 2023 resident told the landlord he wanted his full tenancy agreement to be sent to the Ombudsman. He also said he wanted his complaint to be escalated to stage 2 of the complaints process. The following day the landlord contacted the resident noting his request to escalate to stage 2 of the complaints process. It said the matter would first need to be considered at stage 1 of the process.
  7. The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response to the resident on 15 September 2023. It noted it had previously provided him with a copy of his tenancy agreement and that it had also sent him the revised conditions of tenancy document. It said:
    1. it would attempt to obtain the tenancy conditions applicable in 1999.
    2. the tenancy conditions it had already provided were the ones that were currently applicable.
  8. The resident requested escalation of his complaint on 18 September 2023. He said that the response did not address his request for the full tenancy agreement.
  9. The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response to the resident on 16 October 2023. It said:
    1. at the start of his tenancy the resident would have been invited to sign a contract and that documents would have included the terms and conditions of the tenancy.
    2. because of limited storage it had devised a “shortened form” that captured vital information, including confirmation that the resident had received a copy of the terms and conditions.
    3. upon completion of the tenancy sign up process, the landlord would retain and upload a copy of the shortened form to its system.
    4. this process had not been adequately explained to the resident during his recent contact.
    5. this information should have been provided earlier to save him time and effort.
    6. it apologised for this and offered him £50.
  10. The resident told us that he had still not been sent a copy of the terms and conditions from the start of his tenancy. He said he wanted to review this information in relation to an ongoing dispute with the landlord about alterations he had made to his property, a matter that is not being considered as part of this investigation. As resolution of the matter, he said he wanted the landlord to send him the original terms and conditions of his tenancy.

Assessment and findings

Policies and procedures

  1. The Housing Act 1985 provides that the terms of a secure tenancy can be varied. This can be done by agreement between the landlord and resident, or through notice of a variation of the tenancy.
  2. The landlord has provided us with a copy of the conditions of tenancy from June 2013, which are available on its website. These are effective from April 2013.
  3. The landlord’s compensation guide sets out that it may consider awards in recognition of time and trouble. It outlines a guideline amounts for compensation of between £100 and £300.
  4. The landlord operates a 2-stage complaints process. It aims to provide responses to stage 1 complaints within 10 working days and to those at stage 2 within 20 working days.

Scope of the investigation

  1. The resident’s concerns relate to the landlord’s handling of his request for a copy of the original terms and conditions of his tenancy. We have considered how it responded to this request. If the resident has any concerns about the landlord’s compliance with data protections rules, it would be appropriate for him to refer this concern to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for a copy of the original terms and conditions of his tenancy.

  1. The landlord told the resident in it stage 1 complaint response of 15 September 2023 that the tenancy document it had sent him in April 2023 was a copy of the original tenancy agreement he signed in 1999. It said it had also previously sent him the conditions of tenancy applicable to all its tenants since April 2013. It noted that its officer had previously explained to the resident that its tenancy conditions had been updated since he signed his tenancy, and that the current conditions applied.
  2. The landlord went on to say that it would make enquires about whether it had an archived copy of the conditions of tenancy from 1999.It directed the resident to contact its tenancy officer if he still wanted this information. While that response was reasonable, the landlord could have gone further in its attempt to resolve the resident’s concerns by agreeing to confirm the outcome of its attempts to locate an archived copy of tenancy conditions. Doing so could have resolved the resident’s concerns.
  3. When the resident escalated his complaint on 18 September 2023, he said that the landlord’s response had not addressed his request for the full tenancy agreement. In its stage 2 complaint response the landlord set out its tenancy sign up processes. It explained that it only retained a shortened form of the tenancy agreement, rather than the “full stack” of documents provided to the resident at the time of sign up. It also appropriately acknowledged that it should have provided the resident with a clear explanation of this at an earlier stage.
  4. While it was positive and appropriate that the landlord identified failings in explanations it had provided, there was more it could reasonably have done. As noted above it had previously told the resident that it would make an enquiry to see if it could obtain an archived copy of the conditions of tenancy applicable to the time his tenancy began. Records we have seen show the landlord was able to obtain this information on 19 September 2023. However, there is no evidence it passed this information onto the resident.
  5. We acknowledge that the landlord had already explained to the resident that the updated conditions of tenancy now applied. However, the resident had made repeated requests for it to send him the terms and conditions in place at the start of his tenancy. It had located this information, albeit not signed by the resident. In the circumstances, and given the resident’s apparent ongoing concerns, it would have been reasonable and appropriate for it to provide this information to the resident during its stage 2 complaint response. Its failure to do so meant it missed an opportunity to do all it could to resolve his concerns.
  6. Finally, we note an error in its earlier response to the resident in May 2023. At this time, it referred to current conditions of tenancy having been updated in June 2023, which at that time was a date in the future. The landlord made further reference to this in its stage 1 complaint response. This appears to have been an error as the conditions of tenancy sent to the resident, and to us, were from June 2013 and remain current to date. The landlord should have checked it was making accurate references to avoid unnecessary confusion. That it did not identify or correct this error was a failing.
  7. Overall, we have found service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for a copy of the original terms and conditions of his tenancy.

 

 

 

Complaint handling

  1. The resident submitted complaint forms to the landlord in May and August 2023 in which he outlined his request for information about the terms and conditions of his tenancy. The landlord treated these communications as enquiries, rather than as complaints. We acknowledge it was not clear from these that the resident wanted to raise a complaint, as he did not express dissatisfaction with the landlord’s service. However, given he had submitted complaint forms, it would also have been appropriate for the landlord to clarify it had treated the matter as an enquiry. This would have avoided any confusion about how the matter was being addressed.
  2. When the resident contacted the landlord at the end of August 2023 it is clear he believed the matter was already being treated as a complaint. Earlier clarification by the landlord would have provided the resident with the opportunity log the matter as a complaint, if that was what he wanted. That the landlord did not clarify matters at an earlier stage was a failing.
  3. We acknowledge that, when the landlord did identify the matter as a complaint, its responses were within timescales set out in its complaints policy. It was also positive that it identified and apologised for failings in its earlier explanations to the resident. The award it made to the resident in recognition of this was appropriate.
  4. As set, earlier, we have identified that the landlord could have done more during its handling of the complaint, by providing the resident with conditions of tenancy applicable at the start of his tenancy. That it had obtained this information and did not share it with him, despite his ongoing concerns, was a failing. We have found service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was:
    1. service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for a copy of the original terms and conditions of his tenancy.
    2. service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report the landlord should:
    1. write to apologise to the resident for the failings identified in this report.
    2. provide the resident with a copy of the conditions of tenancy that were applicable at the start of his tenancy.
    3. pay the resident £50 it previously awarded if it has not already done so.
    4. remind staff of the importance of checking the accuracy of communications to avoid errors causing unnecessary confusion.
  2. Within 6 weeks of the date of this report the landlord should consider how it explains the difference between the tenancy agreement and conditions of tenancy at sign up.