Applications are open to join the next Housing Ombudsman Resident Panel – find out more Housing Ombudsman Resident Panel.

Peabody Trust (202318053)

Back to Top

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202318053

Peabody Trust

27 January 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:
    1. Handling of the resident’s reports of antisocial behaviour (ASB).
    2. Complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. The landlord is a housing association and the property is on the first floor of a building. The complaint relates to the neighbour living in the property below the resident within the same building.

Summary of events

  1. Following a number of reports about antisocial behaviour (ASB) the resident raised her complaint in March 2023. She told the landlord about the use of illegal drugs within the building and how she did not want the vapours taking over her home. She told it how she did not feel safe within the building.
  2. On 31 October 2023, this Service contacted the landlord about the resident’s complaint on her behalf. Following this, the landlord issued its stage 1 response on 1 November 2023. It said:
    1. On 5 July 2022 the resident reported the neighbour was smoking cannabis, making noise, verbally abusive, had a broken window, caused criminal damage, and was mistreating dogs. It issued a formal warning and an acceptable behaviour agreement (ABA) on 7 October 2022. After receiving further evidence of noise nuisance, it issued another warning and extended the ABA by 6 months in February 2023. It received no further reports of ASB for 6 weeks after this.
    2. It apologised for the length of time taken to resolve matters and said this was mainly due to the neighbour refusing to engage with its investigation. It apologised for not keeping the resident updated and for any distress caused. It explained how it had provided a refresher course on communication to the member of staff handling the matter and had a dedicated community safety team to manage ASB.
  3. On 7 November 2023 the resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 of the landlord’s internal complaints process and expressed dissatisfaction in having to contact this Service for it to respond. She said the situation remained the same, she asked how the landlord planned to manage it and how she had not been offered an alternative. She told it about an incident that involved armed police attending the neighbour’s property and how she felt afraid.
  4. The landlord issued its stage 2 response on 10 January 2024. It said:
    1. There were evidently delays in its handling of the resident’s ASB case and its customer service was not at the level it aimed to achieve. It accepted it did not conduct a risk assessment and explained how its restructure would mean serious ASB cases were managed by a dedicated specialist going forward.
    2. It repeated its stage 1 response that the ASB case was closed as it received no further reports of ASB over a consecutive 6 week period and explained its changed approach to ASB.
    3. It apologised for the delay in issuing its stage 2 response and said this was due to unforeseen issues and explained its plans for recruitment. It offered the resident £950 redress in total and said this was made up of:
      1. £36.11 per month since the ASB case was logged in July 2022 up to its stage 2 response. This was a total of £650 for the time, trouble, inconvenience, and poor communication.
      2. £300 for its complaint handling, it said this was the maximum compensation award. It broke this down further to, £100 for the lack of redress within its stage 1 response, £100 for delayed stage 2 response, £50 for general poor communication and £50 to factor the cumulative number of shortcomings.
  5. In September 2024, the resident told this Service how she does not feel safe living in the building and mentioned similar ongoing ASB issues. She contacted this Service to consider her complaint further. On 21 January 2025 the resident told this Service that the same problems were continuing.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. Within the resident’s contact with the landlord and this Service she has mentioned that as a resolution to her complaint she wants the landlord to rehouse the neighbour or consider rehousing her. The Ombudsman acknowledges the impact of the reports of ASB and sympathises with the resident, especially as she said she feels unsafe within the building. It is important to explain that it is not within the Ombudsman’s remit to order the landlord to rehouse a resident. However, within this report the Ombudsman has considered the landlord’s handling of the reports of ASB and the action it took in light of the resident’s safety concerns.

Handling of the resident’s reports of ASB

  1. The landlord’s antisocial behaviour (ASB) policy from 2021, says it aims to prevent and minimise the amount of ASB experienced and it takes a victim-centered approach by tackling ASB, including prevention and intervention. It sets out its approach to handling ASB, which includes:
    1. A risk and vulnerability assessment to ensure the appropriate level of support can be provided and any safeguarding issues are identified for victims of ASB.
    2. It will respond to reports of ASB within 1 working day.
    3. It will only investigate noise nuisance where the noise is frequently excessive in volume and duration or occurs at unreasonable hours.
    4. It will use a range of preventive measures, early intervention, signposting to mediation services and legal action to tackle ASB. The methods used will be proportionate to the seriousness, impact, and frequency of the behaviour.
    5. It will agree an action plan with the complainant and any witnesses and keep them informed of any actions. It will contact them when it closes a case, giving reasons for doing so.
    6. It will close a case after investigation and appropriate action is taken and where the issue is successfully resolved, there are no further reports for 6 weeks unless it is gathering further evidence or where no further action could be taken.
  2. Its ASB policy from April 2023, amends its response timeframe to 2 working days and says it can close the case earlier than 6 weeks if agreed with the resident reporting ASB.
  3. The landlord’s ASB section within its resident handbook, from its website, says when handling reports of ASB it always looks at the individual’s experience and the impact the reported behaviour has. It lists examples of ASB which includes, amongst other things, noise nuisance, environmental ASB, drug use or dealing, rowdy behaviour and nuisance or dangerous dogs. It says that reports about smoking drugs should be reported to the police in the first instances and it should be provided with an incident number for it to investigate the concerns.
  4. It is not disputed that in July 2022 the resident told the landlord of her concerns about the neighbour leaving the communal door open, the regular smell of smoking drugs, noise nuisance including loud arguments, loud music/TV as well as concerns about 2 dogs being kept in the neighbour’s garden. She told it of visits from the police and animal welfare and of concerns about her safety. Following these reports the landlord appropriately opened an ASB case.
  5. The evidence shows the landlord contacted the police and animal welfare for disclosure at that time and updated the resident of its findings. While it was appropriate for the landlord to investigate the concerns, it did not conduct a risk assessment with the resident to ensure the appropriate level of support was identified as per its ASB policy. This was not appropriate. 
  6. On 29 July 2022 the landlord issued a warning letter to the neighbour. Following this, the resident provided the landlord with police reference numbers and made it aware of ongoing ASB which included an incident involving a number of people damaging the communal door. The landlord issued a further warning letter on 20 September 2022 and on 7 October 2022 it issued a formal warning letter which included an ABA. At that time, it told the resident that if matters continued it could consider a legal referral. From October 2022 to February 2023 the resident continued to report ASB which included the smell of smoking drugs and loud music/TV. On 24 February 2023 the landlord extended the ABA monitoring period by a further 6 months.
  7. Following this extension, the resident continued to report noise disturbances at unreasonable hours and told the landlord that it impacted her sleep. She said the smell of smoking drugs was entering her home. She also told it of her reports to the police, how she heard the neighbour had said he “would arrange for someone to break into her house” and of her safety concerns. During this time the landlord did not conduct a risk assessment despite the resident’s safety concerns and failed to assess the impact of the reported behaviour. This was not appropriate.
  8. In April and May 2023 the resident told the landlord that while the noise had generally reduced, there were still a number of nights where there were noise disturbances and how she varied her sleep pattern to avoid this. She also told it how the smell of smoking drugs was ongoing. The landlord’s call note from 10 May 2023 recorded the ongoing noise disturbances and noted the resident agreed for it to close the ASB case. Its letter from 10 May 2023 said it was closing the ASB case because there had been no incidents of ASB for over 4 weeks, this was despite what the resident had continued to tell it. This was not appropriate.
  9. From 18 May 2023 onwards, the resident made further reports of similar noise disturbances and provided a number of recordings to the landlord to demonstrate the frequency of noise at unreasonable hours. It took the landlord until 14 August 2023 to respond to these reports, this was not in line with the timeframe set within its ASB policy. Within the landlord’s stage 2 response it accepted the delays in its handling of the ASB case and that it did not carry out a risk assessment. However, there is no evidence to show it conducted a risk assessment following this or provided the resident with details of its planned approach to her ongoing reports of ASB. This was not appropriate.
  10. Overall, the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of ASB was not appropriate. This is because it failed to conduct a risk and vulnerability assessment, it did not ensure it provided appropriate level of support to the resident, it did not respond to reports of ASB as per the timeframes set within its ASB policy, it did not agree an action plan with the resident, and incorrectly said it had no reports of further incidents for 4 weeks prior to closing the ASB case. The landlord also failed to use a range of preventive measures and instead put the onus solely on the resident to evidence noise nuisance. It has not demonstrated that it considered the impact the reported behaviour had on the resident. The landlord’s actions were not in line with its applicable policies, this was not appropriate.
  11. It is important to note that the landlord did initially take some action in liaising with the police and animal welfare about some of the resident’s incident reports. It also took some action in issuing warning letters to the neighbour, which have been considered as attempts to intervene. Within the landlord’s stage 2 response it appropriately apologised for its handling of ASB and offered the resident £36.11 per month, from July 2022 up to its stage 2 response in January 2024 (18 months), the total amount offered for its handling of ASB was £650. This amount falls between the maladministration and severe maladministration banding of this Service’s remedies guidance and when considering this the Ombudsman has not ordered further financial compensation.
  12. However, the landlord has not demonstrated it applied its ASB policy following the resident’s further reports of ASB (18 May 2023 onwards), it has not conducted a risk assessment despite the further reports and the resident’s safety concerns. This Service has not seen evidence of further ASB reports made by the resident, while it is noted that she has told this Service that the ASB is ongoing. When considering the points combined, a finding of maladministration has been made. While the Ombudsman has not made a further order for financial compensation an order has been made for the landlord to follow up on any further reports of ASB as per its ASB policy.

Complaint handling

  1. The landlord’s complaints policy (from 2023) says it has a 2 stage complaints process. It says a stage 1 complaint will be responded to within 10 working days and 20 working days for a stage 2 response. It allows for a 10 working day extension if more time is needed.
  2. The resident expressed dissatisfaction with the landlord’s handling of her reports of ASB in March 2023, however the landlord failed to trigger its internal complaints process at that time. This was not appropriate and meant the resident felt she had to involve this Service for it to respond.
  3. While the landlord responded to this Service’s contact within a reasonable time. When she escalated her complaint to stage 2 of its internal complaints process on 7 November 2023, the landlord took 39 working days (until 10 January 2024) to issue its stage 2 response. This timeframe was not appropriate and exceeded the timeframe set within its policy for a stage 2 response.
  4. Overall, the landlord’s complaint handling was not appropriate. It failed to trigger its internal complaints process which meant the resident involved this Service and had to wait around 8 months for its stage 1 response. It then exceeded its timeframe for a stage 2 response. However, within the stage 2 response the landlord appropriately accepted its complaint handling failings, apologised and offered the resident £300 in total for its complaint handling failing. This amount falls within the maladministration banding of this Service’s remedies guidance and has been decided as appropriate in the circumstances.
  5. The landlord has offered reasonable redress in relation to its complaint handling and the compensation amount satisfactorily resolves this aspect of the complaint.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of ASB.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 53b of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was reasonable redress in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Arrange for a senior manager to apologise to the resident for the failings identified within this report. This should be in writing.
    2. Pay the resident £650 compensation it previously offered for its handling of reports of ASB, if it has not done so already.
    3. Contact the resident about any ongoing ASB issue, if issues are reported to it, it should confirm in writing:
      1. The outcome of any risk and vulnerability assessment and the support it will provide the resident in light of this, if any.
      2. Its agreed action plan, if required.

Recommendation

  1. The Ombudsman recommends the landlord pays the resident:
    1. £300 it previously offered for its complaint handling, if it has not done so already.
    2. Contact the resident to discuss her housing options.