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Landlord apologises after saying it would take enforcement action against resident who complained
A 20,000-home housing association has apologised after it incorrectly said it would take enforcement action against a resident who complained about anti-social behaviour (ASB).
Moat has told Inside Housing that it was “truly sorry” for the mistake, which the resident said had caused her to suffer from “flashbacks and nightmares”.
The shared ownership resident, who lives in Crawley, complained to the housing association in June 2022 about ASB from her neighbours, who she claimed have harassed her for five years. Following the resident’s complaint, Moat launched a six-month ASB investigation.
In January 2023, after the investigation was concluded, a Moat staff member told the resident it would start enforcement action against her. According to the resident, the staff member accused her of being anti-social, but produced no evidence to back this up.
A follow-up letter sent to the resident by Moat in March 2023, seen by Inside Housing, said that the staff member “did not follow our anti-social behaviour procedure before advising that she would be serving you with a Notice of Seeking Possession”.
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It continued: “I am truly sorry for the confusion, and I want to reassure you that Moat has not commenced any legal action against you.”
It added that the staff member in question no longer worked at Moat.
Ultimately, Moat never started the proceedings or served a notice to the resident. However, the resident told Inside Housing that the incident had a “physical and mental effect” on her and her family.
“I now suffer PTSD from all of this,” she said. “I have flashbacks and nightmares of the incident in January and we still receive ASB from these neighbours.”
The resident has since been offered £1,500 compensation from Moat, as well as mediation to restore trust with the landlord.
Anne Brighton, director of neighbourhoods at Moat, said: “Our customer didn’t receive the level of service they should expect from us – we’re truly sorry.
“We have carried out an independent review of the case with an ASB expert to ensure we take the right steps and improve our services.
“We want our customer to be able to live in peace in their home, and we are actively involved in an ongoing investigation into the reports of anti-social behaviour. We’re in regular contact with our customer and are working with statutory partners.
“We apologised to our customer earlier this year for how we handled this case and for incorrectly notifying them that we would be starting enforcement action. We understand the impact our mistake has had, so we have compensated our customer and are currently in mediation with them to help rebuild trust and confidence in our services.”
The resident said: “We have given them three options: buy our share back and rehouse us as tenants; reinvestigate correctly and take appropriate action; [or] move us to another shared ownership property. So far all have been refused. How are they ever going to rebuild their trust with us after everything they put us through?
“I had to fight and prove my innocence to Moat to stop these legal proceedings happening, which I should never have had to do.”
She added that she felt neither the compensation or the apology was enough to fix the physical and mental effect the incident has had on her and her family.
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