London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) (202226399)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202226399

London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q)

20 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 move.
2. The Ombudsman has also investigated the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

3. The resident holds an assured tenancy with the landlord at the property. However, the landlord has not provided a copy of the signed tenancy agreement because it is unable to find it. The property is a 3-bedroom house and the resident lives alone. She is vulnerable because she is registered disabled and has a diagnosis of osteoarthritis, low back pain, and poor mobility. The landlord’s records reflect this.
4. The resident told the landlord that she wanted to move in August 2021. At first it advised her that it would treat her enquiry as a downsizing request and also gave her advice on other housing options, such as mutual exchange. The resident completed medical assessment forms in October 2021, November 2022, and January 2023. An independent medical advisor assessed the information provided and said that the resident did not meet the criteria for rehousing for medical reasons. Based on this recommendation the landlord declined the resident’s request to be added to its rehousing list.
5. The resident complained on 18 January 2023. She asked why the landlord had refused her request for rehousing and asked for a copy of the document that gave reasons for the decision. She said that it had not told her what supporting information to provide when she first applied and now that she had supplied the information, she had received an identical rejection letter. She said that she could not access her bath safely and had difficulty climbing the stairs. She asked it to reimburse £28 that she paid for a doctor’s letter to support her application.
6. The landlord responded to the complaint on 30 January 2023. It said that:
   1. Its lettings team would contact the resident to discuss sharing the medical outcome letter.
   2. A list of the information required to assess the medical application was included on the forms she had completed.
   3. It could not reimburse the £28 she paid for a medical letter.
   4. It had acted in line with its policies and procedures and that the qualifying criteria for a direct offer via the rehousing list was very high due to the shortage of properties available. It advised her about other housing options including mutual exchange.
7. The resident asked the landlord to escalate the complaint to stage 2 of the complaints process on 2 February 2023. She said that the landlord was not addressing her medical issues. She said that she felt mentally and physically unable to complete a mutual exchange.
8. The landlord sent a stage 2 response letter on 16 June 2023. Within the complaint definition, it included that the resident was unhappy that she had not received a copy of its rehousing policy. It said that:
   1. Its decision not to accept her application for rehousing for medical reasons was in line with its policy.
   2. It had now accepted her application for rehousing under the downsizing criteria but it did not specify the date this was effective from.
   3. The rehousing process would now start and a rehousing manager would contact her the following week.

Assessment and findings

Request to move

9. The landlord’s rehousing policy, effective from June 2021, says that applicants must meet at least one of a list of criteria before it would add them to the rehousing list. These include:
   1. Either the resident or a member of their household has a significant medical need or disability which means that they are unable to remain in their home.
   2. The tenant wishes to downsize to a smaller property as their household is under-occupying their existing home.
10. It is unclear why the landlord did not progress the resident’s initial request to move under the downsizing criteria. The procedure says that a rehousing panel is responsible for making decisions on all permanent housing requests. However, we have seen no evidence that the landlord referred the resident’s downsizing request to the rehousing panel. Instead, it asked her to complete a medical assessment form.
11. The procedure says that an independent medical adviser will assess applications for rehousing for medical reasons against the criteria. If the medical adviser recommends that the resident is not eligible the rehousing manager will phone the resident to advise them of the outcome and discuss next steps.
12. The resident completed 3 medical assessment forms and provided medical information over a period of 15 months. This cost her time and trouble including time spent attending the doctor’s surgery. The GP also requested a monetary charge for the information provided. The landlord sent a standard refusal letter to the resident each time to let her know that she did not meet the criteria for a move under medical grounds. We have seen no evidence that it called the resident on each occasion to discuss next steps. Had the landlord followed its procedure and called the resident to discuss her options, it might have realised that she was eligible to join the rehousing list as an under-occupier and did not need to complete the medical assessment process.
13. The landlord has since allowed the resident to join the rehousing list under the downsizing criteria. The landlord’s allocations and lettings policy states that it will work proactively with downsizers and provide incentives such as a payment of £500 or financial assistance with removal costs. It also says that applicants will be shortlisted according to the date of approval of their rehousing referral.
14. The resident has told us that she has not received any proactive help from the landlord regarding a move and is unsure when her rehousing application start date is. Therefore, we have ordered the landlord to tell the resident what actions it will take to assist her with a move in line with its procedure. It must also review the date it allowed her on the rehousing list and consider if this date is correct. It must then tell her what the start date of her rehousing application is in writing giving reasons for its decision bearing in mind that she first requested a downsizing move in August 2021.
15. The landlord’s failure to follow its procedure meant that the resident took considerable time and trouble trying to join the rehousing list for medical reasons. It failed to identify its error and offer to put things right. Therefore, there has been maladministration in the landlords handling of the resident’s request for a move. We have made an order for it to pay £300 compensation to reflect the time and trouble caused to the resident. This is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance.

Complaint handling

16. The landlord’s complaints policy said that it would send a final written response to a stage 2 complaint within 20 working days of the resident’s request to escalate it. The landlord took 92 working days to respond to the stage 2 complaint. This long delay and failure to follow its own policy caused the resident distress and inconvenience and delayed her access to an investigation by this Service.
17. The Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) in place at the time said that “any remedy proposed must be followed through to completion”.
18. The resident asked to see a copy of the decision made by the medical adviser in her stage 1 complaint. The landlord responded by saying that its lettings team would contact her to discuss this further. It did not give a definite answer regarding the request and we have seen no evidence that it followed the remedy through to completion. This cost the resident further time and trouble because she had to escalate the complaint.
19. The Code also said that “landlords must address all points raised in the complaint and provide clear reasons for any decisions, referencing the relevant policy, law and good practice where appropriate”.
20. In the stage 2 complaint response the landlord acknowledged that the resident had requested a copy of its rehousing policy but it had not provided her with one. However, it did not address this in the complaint response at all. It did not apologise, provide a copy of the policy, or explain why it was unable to do so. This failure to follow the code caused the resident inconvenience because she had to escalate the complaint to this Service.
21. In summary, the landlord’s failure to comply with the Code and its policy meant that there was a long delay in the stage 2 complaint response, and its responses did not answer all the resident’s queries. The landlord failed to acknowledge these failings and did not offer to put things right. Therefore, there has been maladministration in the landlords handling of the resident’s complaint. We have ordered the landlord to pay £150 compensation to reflect the time, trouble, distress, and inconvenience this caused to the resident. This is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance.

Determination (decision)

22. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme there was maladministration in the landlord’s:
    1. Handling of the resident’s request to move.
    2. Complaint handling.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

23. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report the landlord must:
    1. Apologise. A senior member of staff to apologise in writing for the failings identified in this investigation.
    2. Pay the resident a total of £450 compensation, comprising:
    3. £300 for the time and trouble caused by the failures in its handling of the resident’s request to move.
    4. £150 for the time, trouble, distress, and inconvenience caused by its complaint handling failures.
24. Within 6 weeks of the date of this report the landlord must:
    1. Provide its position in writing about the actions it will take to assist and incentivise the resident with a move, as a down-sizer, in line with its procedure.
    2. Review the date it allowed the resident onto the rehousing list and consider if this date is correct. It must then advise the resident of the start date of her rehousing application in writing giving reasons for its decision bearing in mind that she first requested a downsizing move in August 2021.