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Housing Ombudsman publishes full details of 350 decisions against landlords
The Housing Ombudsman has published details of 350 decisions it has taken since March last year following tenant complaints against landlords.
In a bid to increase transparency, the ombudsman has published more than 350 individual cases covering a range of issues including repairs, anti-social behaviour and complaint-handling.
The outcomes included areas where the ombudsman found cases of maladministration, no issue and those where an incident had gone wrong but the landlord was not deemed not to have addressed it appropriately.
According to the ombudsman, the decisions provide an ever-expanding resource to promote learning, fairness and accountability in the sector.
The cases cover dozens of landlords and include details of incidents where housing associations have been forced to pay tenants for inadequately responding to anti-social behaviour claims, failing to deal with leaks in properties and removing gas pipes without informing residents (see below for case studies).
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Housing ombudsman Richard Blakeway said: “We’ve been publishing decisions for over three months, providing a rich source of learning for landlords and a key part of our commitment to being open and transparent.
“As our online casebook grows, it promotes fairness, accountability and the difference complaints can make.
“Several of the cases highlighted cover periods during COVID-19 and relate to issues where we continue to see challenges in complaint-handling, such as responding to repairs or noise issues. As steps are made towards removing restrictions, handling complaints effectively is essential, and we hope sharing the learning from our casebook will support these efforts.
“I would encourage landlords to regularly use our decisions to help improve services and complaint-handling. It also helps residents in understanding the issues we can consider and the decisions we make.”
Last month it was revealed that complaints to the ombudsman grew by 73% during the first three months of 2021 compared with the same period last year.
The body had received 6,010 enquiries and complaints at the beginning of this year, compared with 3,482 for the three months in 2020.
A selection of some of the published decisions
Southern Housing Group
The Housing Ombudsman ordered Southern Housing Group to pay £200 in compensation to a tenant due to distress caused by the housing association’s decision to claim for possession of a property.
The case, which began in 2018, also included a complaint of anti-social behaviour. The ombudsman found a case of maladministration against the landlord on how it handled the tenant’s rent account.
Lily Monk, director of customer operations at Southern Housing Group, said: “As a responsible landlord, we welcome the scrutiny and recognise the integral role of the ombudsman, which allows us to continue to improve the services we provide.”
Optivo
The ombudsman investigated an anti-social behaviour claim against a resident for noise disturbance above the property. It found that Optivo had failed to deal with the complaint in a reasonable length of time and failed to adequately investigate the noise concerns.
The landlord was ordered to pay £100 in compensation for any distress caused, the ombudsman also ordered Optivo to check the flooring in the above residence and advise on timescales for any further investigation. Read the case here.
Responding, Optivo said: “We treat all complaints extremely seriously and always see them as opportunities to learn. On this particular case, we’ve sent a written apology to the resident for the way we handled this issue and paid £100 compensation.
“We followed all the Housing Ombudsman’s recommendations. We continue to work closely with our resident and their neighbour to resolve the noise nuisance issue.
“We want all residents to feel safe, secure and happy in their home, and our teams work hard to consistently deliver a positive customer experience.
“We accept all residents have the opportunity to contact the Housing Ombudsman if they’re unhappy. We will always comply with their orders, learn lessons and take action where needed.
“Our involved residents helped us carry out a review of our complaint resolution policy last year and as a result we made further changes to comply with the Housing Ombudsman’s new complaint-handling code.”
Birmingham City Council
Birmingham City Council was ordered by the ombudsman to pay £600 in compensation to a resident after failing to deal with a leak at the property. According to the report, the tenant had complained 10 times over the issue since August 2019.
The family in the assured tenancy property claimed they suffered from health problems as a result of the persistent leak, which was later found to have been caused by some slipped tiles.
The council was ordered to pay a further £150 in compensation for service failures identified over its complaint-handling. Inside Housing has contacted BCC. Read the case here.
L&Q
The Housing Ombudsman found L&Q had taken more than 80 days to deal with problems with a communal heating system over the 2019/20 winter. It found that L&Q had taken too long to repair the boiler system.
The ombudsman also found that the compensation offered by the the association was not proportionate to the detriment caused by the lack of hot water or heating. L&Q was ordered to pay £680 (minus sums already paid) to residents for failing to meet the four-week deadline for repairs. Read the case here.
Bromford
The ombudsman found Bromford had failed to deliver appropriate service when it removed a gas pipe from a property without informing the resident. The pipe was removed in 2015 when the boiler was upgraded, but the resident was not informed at the time.
When a new gas cooker was bought in 2019, the tenant was unable to connect it, and complained. The ombudsman ordered Bromford to pay the resident £150 in compensation, cover the costs of restoring the pipe and pay for any further installation costs if they arose. Inside Housing has contacted Bromford. Read the case here.
