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Sovereign Network Group (202301929)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202301929

Sovereign Network Homes

14 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 response to the resident’s reports about:
    1. Damage to a fence and trees.
    2. The associated formal complaint.
    3. Slippery concrete.

Jurisdiction

Slippery concrete

  1. What the Ombudsman can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. This is governed by the Scheme. When a complaint is brought to this Service, the Ombudsman must consider all the circumstances of the case, as there are sometimes reasons why a complaint will not be investigated.
  2. The resident contacted the landlord in July 2022 stating that the concrete in the garden had become slippery and dangerous. The landlord did not raise a formal complaint about this immediately, but the resident’s reports persisted, so the landlord issued a stage 1 response in March 2023 (under ref. CAS-1364451-R8J7Z5).
  3. The landlord also issued a stage 2 response to a separate complaint in March 2023, which made reference to the slippery concrete, but did not formally investigate or address the matter at stage 2. Following the resident’s ongoing concerns on this point, and the Ombudsman’s intervention in December 2024, the landlord issued a stage 2 response to the slippery concrete complaint on 7 January 2025.
  4. While the resident had previously raised concerns about the concrete to the Ombudsman, it was not until the matter exhausted the landlord’s complaints process that we could consider the matter further (in accordance with paragraph 42.a of the Scheme). Now that the landlord has issued its final response, the resident will need to consider this and decide whether she is satisfied with the landlord’s position. She has not yet referred this complaint to the Ombudsman for further consideration since receiving the final response
  5. In accordance with paragraph 41.a of the Scheme, this Service cannot investigate a complaint which has not been referred to us by someone who can use the Scheme. As a result, the issue of slippery concrete is currently outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and is not considered further in this report.
  6. If the resident is dissatisfied with the landlord’s stage 2 response and would like the Ombudsman to consider the matter further, she should notify this Service as soon as possible, and within 12 months of the final response (in accordance with paragraph 42.b of the Scheme). We would then create a new case and progress the complaint as a separate matter under a new case reference.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord, a housing association, following a mutual exchange in 2018. The property is a 3-bedroom house. There are no vulnerabilities recorded for the household. 
  2. On 28 July 2022 the resident contacted the landlord to report that the trees in the garden were not letting light in and had not been maintained by the previous tenant, as well as several other concerns. Following a call with the resident on 29 July 2022 to clarify her concerns, the landlord logged her formal complaint about 2 large trees that needed to be topped and a fence repair due to damage from the tree roots.
  3. In its internal investigation of the issues, the landlord considered the repairing and maintenance responsibilities for the trees and fence and arranged a survey for November 2022. The landlord recorded that it did not receive any recommendations from the surveyor, but it sought quotes for remedial works in any event as it decided to carry out make safe works to the tree and fix the fence.
  4. In the landlord’s stage 1 response of 8 December 2022 it explained that the tree removal work would commence on 23 January 2023, followed by fence repairs on 25 January 2023. It apologised for the delay in resolving the issue.
  5. From 24 to 28 February 2023 the resident escalated the complaint, stating that the tree had not been removed, there was a gap in the fence, her dog could get out, and local children poked their heads through. She said she took time off work to accommodate repairs which never happened. The landlord escalated the complaint on 28 February 2023 and explained that it would respond within 20 working days, but this could be extended with notice to the resident.
  6. On 9 March 2023 the landlord emailed the resident a copy of its stage 2 response, which it also sent out by post on 10 March 2023. It detailed its investigation process and findings, stating that the contractors booked to attend to the trees in January 2023 were unable to attend due to the weather. It apologised that they did not communicate with the resident and confirmed that a new appointment had been arranged for 13 March 2023 and the contractor would contact her directly.
  7. With regard to the fence repair, the landlord said the job scheduled for January 2023 was also incomplete as the trees had not yet been removed. This had been rebooked for 20 March 2023, but in the meantime it had arranged a temporary repair and it would follow up on 17 March 2023 to check this was completed.
  8. On 14 March 2023 the tree works were marked as complete, and on 24 March 2023 the landlord gave the resident a compensation form so she could claim £100 as a gesture of good will for missed appointments. On 31 March 2023 the landlord emailed the resident to confirm that the fence and tree remedial works were complete.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident submitted new concerns about the landlord’s services and  historical repair reports in her escalation to the Ombudsman, stating that the issues had been resolved but she was unhappy about the experience she had.
  2. The scope of this investigation is from 28 July 2022, when the resident first reported issues with the tree, to March 2023, when the landlord provided its final response to the tree/fence complaint and related remedial works were completed. The resident’s additional concerns which were raised during or after this period have not been assessed, as no evidence has been provided that they have exhausted the landlord’s complaints process (reflected at paragraph 42.a of the Scheme).

Fence and trees

  1. The Tenancy Agreement states that the landlord must keep in reasonable repair the common areas, and the resident must keep the garden in a tidy and cultivated condition. The evidence shows that the landlord considered it was not responsible for the tree works initially, but the resident reported that they were not maintained by the previous tenant. The condition of the property at the time of the mutual exchange is unclear, but the landlord ultimately accepted responsibility for the works, regarding these as make safe works, which was resolution focused.
  2. The landlord took reasonable steps to arrange a survey after accepting repairing responsibilities, following up with remedial works after seeking quotes for the tree work, and then completing the fence repair. However, there were delays in the overall service provided by the landlord, which it did not dispute. Following the landlord’s knowledge of the fence and tree repairs at the end of July 2022 it took 4 months to raise an inspection, which it could have reasonably done sooner. While the landlord apologised for the delay at stage 1, it failed to offer any redress for the impact in time and trouble.
  3. The landlord then arranged for the repairs in January 2023 following quotes sought for the tree works, but this too was delayed until March 2023 which was unreasonable. Though the landlord’s offer of compensation and its conclusion in upholding the complaint was resolution focused, it remained disproportionate to the overall timescales and related time and trouble involved in its response to the resident’s reports about the tree and fence. Therefore, there was service failure.
  4. The landlord completed the work within a month of learning that the matter remained unresolved (from February to March 2023), which was appropriate given the delays the resident had already experienced. The landlord’s actions  reflected its learning from the events, as it remained proactive in monitoring the repair and communicating with the resident about its completion. The rest of the landlord’s service was therefore reasonable, and this has been taken into account in the Ombudsman’s finding and assessment of appropriate redress.
  5. In line with this Service’s Remedies Guidance, the landlord is ordered to pay the resident £100 compensation (in addition to the £100 already offered) for the overall time and trouble associated with the delayed repair and remedial action it provided in respect of the trees and the fence repair.

Complaint handling

  1. Following the resident’s stage 1 complaint on 28 July 2022, the landlord clarified her concerns the following day. This was appropriate given the level of information the resident provided in her original communication. However, the landlord did not then provide a stage 1 response in a timely manner of 10 working days as expected by the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code).
  2. Its stage 1 response was delayed by approximately 11 weeks, which was inappropriate. The landlord did not offer the resident any redress for this delay, in contravention of this Service’s Dispute Resolution Principles: to be fair, put things right, and learn from outcomes. This would have been resolution focused and demonstrated that the landlord took the complaint seriously and sought to remedy its failures in service. The significant delay in the complaint handling and the lack of associated redress amounts to maladministration. In line with the Remedies Guidance, an order is made for the landlord to pay the resident £150 to reflect the time and trouble associated with its delayed stage 1 response.
  3. The landlord provided its stage 2 response following the resident’s escalation of her complaint within a reasonable timescale as per the Code. The remaining complaint handling was therefore appropriate.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 41.a of the Scheme, the complaint about the slippery concrete is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was:
    1. Service failure by the landlord in its response to the resident’s reports about damage to a fence and trees.
    2. Maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the associated formal complaint.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to pay £250 (in addition to the £100 the landlord offered in March 2023), comprised of:
    1. £100 for the time and trouble associated with the delays in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports about the damage to the fence and trees on the property
    2. £150 for the time and trouble associated with the delayed complaint handling