Sovereign Network Group (202200747)
REPORT
COMPLAINT 202200747
Sovereign Network Homes
12 February 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 handling of the resident’s reports of antisocial behaviour (ASB).
Background
- The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. She lives in a 1-bedroom flat on the first floor of a building. The landlord is a housing association and has recorded vulnerabilities for the resident. The complaint relates to the resident’s neighbour (the neighbour) who lives in the property below.
Summary of events
- Between 2022 and 2023 the resident made a number of incident reports to the landlord about the neighbour. It is understood that counter allegations were made at that time.
- On 8 June 2023 the resident raised her complaint with the landlord. She told it how she was unhappy with its handling of issues with the neighbour and how it kept suggesting actions that had been previously recommended. The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 9 June 2023 and said it spoke to the resident on 25 May 2023 and reopened the ASB case. It confirmed it had arranged for the delivery of a camera doorbell and apologised for not getting back to the resident about this sooner.
- The resident escalated her complaint on 29 June 2023. She told the landlord that it caused her financial distress in giving her 14 days’ notice to swap her parking space and how it made the decision without discussing it with her.
- The landlord issued its stage 2 response on 18 July 2023. It said:
- It had taken a reasonable and appropriate approach in swapping the parking spaces. It found this would provide an easy resolution to the dispute over placement of the bin. It would renumber the parking spaces and proposed the swap take effect from 1 August 2023. It explained how it had a right to ask the resident to swap her parking space.
- It dealt with a previous incident about allegations of racist abuse fully. The police said they would take no action as there were no independent witnesses to the incident. Its own findings were similar and it explained how without evidence it could not take any enforcement action.
- It supported the view that ignoring the neighbour, and vice versa, would avoid any further incidents.
- Its staff had not acted out of scope and remained professional and unbiased. It found it reasonable for the resident to have the same locality manager and officer.
- It did not uphold the resident’s complaint. It acknowledged how the resident had changed her mind on wanting the neighbour evicted and that she was not seeking any claim for loss of earnings as she did not work.
- Following the end of the landlord’s internal complaints process, the resident agreed that the neighbour could have her parking space and asked for the visitor’s parking space as it was further away from the neighbour. The landlord agreed to the resident’s request. The resident continued to report issues about the neighbour and asked this Service to investigate her complaint further.
Assessment and findings
Scope of investigation
- It is important to explain that it is not the Ombudsman’s role to decide whether an incident amounts to antisocial behaviour (ASB) or whether ASB had occurred. Instead it is the role of this Service to consider the actions taken by the landlord when reports of alleged ASB have been made to it and to decide whether those actions were appropriate or reasonable in the circumstances.
- It is not disputed that issues between the resident and neighbour had been ongoing for some time prior to the resident’s complaint in June 2023. In such circumstances, the Ombudsman would usually expect the resident to have raised issues as a formal complaint within a reasonable time, usually 6 months of the matters arising. Issues that were not raised as a complaint within a reasonable time have not been assessed within this report. However, at times events from 2022 have been referred to within the report for background purposes.
- Over the course of the resident’s complaint, and in communication with the landlord and this Service, the resident has explained how the dispute with the neighbour impacted her mental health. While the Ombudsman acknowledges the resident’s comments, it is outside the Ombudsman’s remit to draw conclusions on the causation of, or liability for, impact on health or wellbeing. However, this Service has considered the general distress and inconvenience which the situation may have caused the resident in light of her personal circumstances.
- It is noted that the resident asked the landlord to compensate her for loss of earnings. Within its stage 2 response the landlord explained how the resident agreed she did not want to claim for loss of earning as she was not working at that time. While this has not been disputed, it is important to explain that this Service’s remedies guidance does not provide for loss of earnings. As such, a payment for loss of earning has not been considered within this report.
- In February 2024, the resident raised a new complaint about the landlord’s handling of further incident’s with the neighbour and how it left her feeling unsupported. In the interest of fairness, the scope of this investigation is limited to the issues raised during the resident’s formal complaint and the landlord’s stage 2 response from July 2023. This is because the landlord needs to be given a fair opportunity to investigate and respond to any further complaints as part of its internal complaints process, prior to the involvement of this Service. As such, this report will consider the complaint that formed part of the landlord’s stage 2 response from 18 July 2023.
The resident’s reports of ASB
- The landlord’s ASB policy says it will balance prevention, intervention and enforcement so its homes and communities are safe places to live. It says its response to ASB will vary for each case and will be tailored to the needs of the residents involved. It will be clear if the issue is ASB, take most effective and realistic course of action explaining this to all involved, so its response is reasonable and proportionate. It explains how when investigating a case it will- offer early intervention (mediation), resolve the matter quickly, rebuild relationships, use acceptable behaviour agreement’s, issue warnings and cautions to deter future ASB.
- As mentioned previously, a number of incidents were reported to the landlord in 2022. In August 2022, the resident and the neighbour attended mediation. Following this, in November 2022, the resident told the landlord that the neighbour had breached the terms of the mediation agreement and made direct contact with her and had been aggressive towards her. It is understood that the dispute, at that time, was about the resident placing her bin in her car parking space. The resident’s car parking space was at the front of the neighbour’s property.
- In December 2022 the landlord conducted a joint visit with the police to discuss matters with both the resident and the neighbour. It agreed to issue an acceptable behaviour contract (ABC) for both sides and provided the resident with personal coaching to help support her. At that time it also conducted a risk assessment and made referrals to the appropriate agencies for the resident in light of her vulnerabilities. The landlord’s actions here were appropriate in its attempts to help manage the situation and ensure it offered the resident support.
Noise issues
- A number of further reports were made between January and March 2023 which included the neighbour and their family members looking at the resident, noise disturbances including banging and music, as well as littering. The landlord appropriately adopted a multi-agency approach in working with the police, the resident’s advocate and support agencies. It also appropriately explained that the matters were unlikely to meet the level for an injunction/ possession proceedings. This is because it found the noise app did not pick up the reported noise disturbances and the ABC was reasonable and proportionate action for it to take. The ABC was signed by both sides in March 2023, this action was in line with the landlord’s policy.
- In March 2023, the landlord told the resident what it had done in attempts to resolve issues between her and the neighbour. This included mediation, personal coaching, noise insulation underlay and carpets throughout the property, wireless headphones and gifted a camera doorbell. It reminded the resident to use the noise app and the ASB log sheets. It explained how it could not determine the noise complaint and appropriately referred the resident to environmental health to obtain an independent assessment before it closed the case in April 2023. The landlord’s actions here were appropriate in the circumstances.
Camera doorbell
- The evidence shows that the landlord agreed to offer the resident a camera doorbell in March 2023. The resident followed up on this in May 2023 and within its stage 1 response, from June 2023, the landlord appropriately apologised for its delay and arranged for the delivery of the camera doorbell. The camera doorbell was delivered following this. While the resident may have been unhappy in not receiving the camera doorbell sooner, it was reasonable for the landlord to apologise for the delay and gift the camera doorbell to the resident at no costs. The resident did not raise this issue again and as such this matter was satisfactorily resolved causing the resident no detriment.
Racist language
- In May 2023, an incident was reported to the landlord which related to the resident’s bin being placed in her parking space near the neighbour’s window. This was allegedly moved to the end of the resident’s parking space and an incident took place between the resident and the neighbour. The resident has said the neighbour used racist language towards her and this was reported to the police at that time.
- Following this the landlord appropriately opened a new ASB case and adopted a multi-agency approach in working with the police and its attempts to arrange a joint visit with the police. Within its stage 2 response it explained how the police would not take further action due to the lack of evidence. Its own investigation found similar results and this meant it could not take enforcement action due to the lack of evidence. The landlord’s handling of the incident was in line with its ASB policy. It investigated the incident reported to it, worked with the police and the resident’s advocate, and acted quickly in telling the resident of its decided approach. This was appropriate in the circumstances.
Parking space swap
- In May 2023, the resident told the landlord that a previous member of staff said she could store her bin in her parking space. The Ombudsman has not been provided with evidence to confirm this. While this may have been previously agreed, it was reasonable for the landlord to consider if this was still suitable given the escalation of the situation and the need to find a solution. Following the incident in May 2023, mentioned previously, in attempts to resolve the ongoing issues the landlord decided to swap the resident’s and neighbour’s parking spaces. While the resident may have been unhappy with the landlord’s decision, its actions were reasonable in the circumstances.
- The tenancy agreement says that the property is provided with an allocated parking space. It is not disputed that the resident had an allocated parking space, the landlord’s decision to swap the parking space was a reasonable decision for it to adopt in the circumstances.
- The resident has said that the landlord had not given her enough notice to move her vehicle from her original parking space and it did not listen to her side of events. It has clearly been a difficult time for the resident, especially when considering the challenges she faced with the neighbour. The evidence shows that the resident was aware of the parking space swap in June 2023 and the landlord agreed for this to take effect from 1 August 2023. When considering the nature of the swap, the timeframe and notice given was reasonable. Furthermore, the landlord’s decision to allocate the visitor’s parking space to the resident demonstrates how it took account of her concerns, which was also reasonable.
- Following the decision to swap the parking space the resident raised concerns about a member of staff handling her matter and how she wanted the landlord to allocate her a new member of staff. It is important to explain that it is not the role of this Service to tell the landlord which member of staff should handle a resident’s matter. Within the landlord’s stage 2 response it acted reasonably in attempting to alleviate the resident’s concerns about the member of staff and in explaining its decision surrounding the parking space.
- Overall, the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of ASB was appropriate. It acted appropriately in its handling of noise concerns in reminding the resident to use its noise app and referred her to environmental health when the reported noise was not picked up by the noise app. It satisfactorily resolved the issue with delivering the camera doorbell and apologised for this. It worked with the police and investigated the allegations of racist language aimed at the resident. It explained its position based on the evidence available to it as per its policy. It adopted a reasonable approach in swapping the parking spaces to help manage the situation between the resident and the neighbour. The landlord acted within its remit and appropriately managed the situation. When handling the resident’s concerns it appropriately adopted a multi-agency approach, provided coaching and referred her to support agencies.
- When considering the overall handling of the reports of ASB there was no maladministration.
- It is acknowledged that the resident may be disappointed with the outcome of this Service’s investigation. It is important to explain that the Ombudsman has not determined whether the resident experienced ASB or the scale of it. It is acknowledged that it has been a difficult time for the resident especially as the issues remain ongoing with the neighbour. However, when considering the evidence available, the Ombudsman is satisfied that the landlord acted reasonably in its handling of above mentioned aspects of the resident’s complaint.
Determination
- In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of reports of ASB.
Recommendation
- The landlord should contact the resident about any ongoing issues with the neighbour. It can consider whether to use this contact to decide if it should set a clear action plan or parameters surrounding further issues reported to it.