Waltham Forest Council (202312872)
The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of multiple repairs to her property. The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.
Decisions
All our decisions are published here as part of our commitment to being open and transparent. The decisions are anonymised so residents’ names are not used, but landlords are named. The decisions date from December 2020 and are published three months after the final decision date. In some cases we may decide not to publish a decision if it is not in the resident’s or landlord’s interest or the resident’s anonymity may be compromised. You can read more in our guidance on decisions.
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Wolverhampton City Council (202206083)
The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s: eviction from the property. concerns about asbestos, and repairs to the bathroom, boiler, front door. concerns about the gas safety check completed in December 2022. concerns about the external post box. reports of antisocial behaviour (ASB). the complaint. We have also considered the landlord’s record keeping. It was apparent the landlord understood the issues the resident raised in June 2022 related to matters that had already exhausted its complaints process. We acknowledge that it was initially unclear that her concerns related to new issues. However, by March 2023 we had clearly set out the resident’s ongoing concerns to the landlord. Despite this, it did not provide its stage 1 response until 20 July 2023. This was well outside the target response time of 10 working days. Instead, it sought to address issues outside of the complaints process, through updates to the resident in April and June 2023. While local resolution is reasonable in some circumstances, in this case a clear request had been made for a complaint response. As set out in the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code), landlords must ensure that efforts to resolve resident’s concerns do not result in any unreasonable delay. Nor should they obstruct access to the complaints procedure. By failing to provide a timely response to the issues raised in March 2023 the landlord unreasonably delayed the complaint. That would have caused the resident unnecessary distress and inconvenience and delayed her access to an independent review by the Ombudsman. The landlord’s stage 2 complaint response was timely. However, the officer who responded to the stage 1 complaint also provided this response. That was not in line with the Code, which requires a stage 2 review to be undertaken by a different person. By doing so the landlord missed the opportunity to provide the resident with an independent review of the stage 1 complaint. We have ordered that the landlord remind its complaint handling staff that stage 1 and stage 2 complaint responses should be provided by different officers. We have set out earlier in the report other failings in the landlord’s handling of the complaint. For instance, it did not acknowledge or apologise for the appointments being attended on dates/times not pre-agreed by the resident. This would have given her the impression it was dismissing her concerns. Overall, we have found maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint. We have ordered that the landlord make an award to her to recognise the impact of its failings.
A2Dominion Housing Group Limited (202209000)
The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of: Hot water repairs Front door repairs.
Croydon Churches Housing Association Limited (202309423)
The complaint is about the level of compensation offered by the landlord for the time it took to resolve damp and mould on a bedroom wall in the resident’s property.
Homes Plus Limited (202218914)
The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of: The resident’s concerns regarding the condition of the property when the tenancy commenced. The resident’s reports of leaks, damp and mould and associated repairs.
Hyde Housing Association Limited (202305990)
The complaint is about: The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of a leak into her bathroom and damage to the ceiling. The landlord’s handling of the associated complaints.
Longhurst Group Limited (202233030)
The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of: An antisocial behaviour (ASB) case. The residents report of low water pressure and request for a replacement bathroom. The associated complaint.
Sanctuary Housing Association (202337287)
The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s: Report of a leak into the property and associated communication. Associated formal complaint.
Southend-on-Sea City Council (202309216)
The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for it to: reinstate an external security gate. install external lighting by his flat. The Ombudsman has also assessed the landlord’s complaint handling.
Southern Housing (202301251)
The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of: The resident’s reports of a leak into the property which led to his bedroom ceiling collapsing. The remedial works to the bedroom ceiling, including the quality of the work. The associated complaints.