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Paragon Asra Housing Limited (202228849)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202228849

Paragon Asra Housing Limited

4 August 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 handling of:
    1. The resident’s reports of antisocial behaviour (ASB) regarding noise transfer.
    2. The associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. The property is a 4 bedroom ground floor flat. She has lived at the property since 6 September 2021.
  2. The resident reported noise nuisance to the landlord in December 2022. Her reports relate to the upstairs neighbour who will be referred to as ‘the neighbour’ or ‘the neighbouring property’ within the report. This Service has not been made aware of the type of tenancy the neighbour holds.
  3. The resident complained to the landlord on 26 April 2023. She was unhappy with the landlord’s handling of noise nuisance. She said it had not responded to her reports of noise or explained the next steps she should take.
  4. The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 15 May 2023. It confirmed that it had contacted the neighbouring property to discuss options to reduce the noise transfer. The landlord had agreed that it would install carpet in 3 stairwells and continue to monitor following the carpet installation.
  5. The resident requested the landlord escalate her complaint on 20 September 2023. Part of the reason for the escalation was due to not having received an update regarding the installation of the carpet and the officer involved had not been responding to her calls.
  6. The landlord acknowledged this and raised a new complaint on the same day. It issued its stage 1 response on 10 October 2023. It said it would investigate her allegations about its staff member and provide her with a separate response.
  7. The resident escalated the complaint again on 11 October 2023. Her main concern was the lack of communication from the landlord. She also advised that the carpet installation had not yet taken place and this was constantly causing her sleepless nights. The landlord acknowledged the escalation request the same day.
  8. The resident escalated her complaint to the Ombudsman on 29 November 2023. She said she had not received a stage 2 response from the landlord. We contacted the landlord on 19 December 2023 and requested a stage 2 response be sent to the resident by 28 December 2023.
  9. The landlord issued its stage 2 response on 28 December 2023. It apologised for the delay with installing the carpet and acknowledged this was not the standard they expected. It upheld the complaint and offered £300 compensation for the carpet delays and £50 for the stage 2 complaint response delay.
  10. The resident escalated the complaint to this Service on 16 January 2024. She said the landlord had not provided her with the agreed updates or confirmed when it would fit the carpet.

Assessment and findings

Policy and procedures

  1. The landlord’s ASB policy says that when it receives a report it will contact the resident, risk assess the report and agree an action plan. Good ASB case management requires clear and accurate records showing agreed actions between the resident and landlord.
  2. The landlord’s complaints policy states that upon receipt of a complaint it will contact the complainant within 5 working days. It will respond to stage 1 complaints within 10 working days. At stage 2, it will respond within 20 working days.
  3. The landlord’s compensation policy states the amount awarded will be reasonable, justifiable, proportionate and based on personal impact. It will reflect the level of inconvenience, disturbance, stress, or annoyance suffered and the extent to which it has been directly responsible. It will also take into account the time taken to resolve the problem with a range of £100 to £500 for prolonged service failure.

The residents reports of antisocial behaviour (ASB) regarding noise transfer

  1. It is not disputed that the landlord investigated the resident’s reports of ASB from December 2022. The reports related to noise transfer and banging from the neighbour’s property. However, it is unclear if there was a risk assessment or action plan completed. The landlord should have agreed an action plan with the resident early in the timeline. This was a shortcoming and may have managed her expectations and established timeframes for communication.
  2. The landlord’s records show that it did take reasonable action in response to the resident’s early reports. It established communication with the neighbouring property and recognised the need to install carpet in 3 stairwells. It also spoke to the neighbour regarding the level of noise and agreed to monitor the situation following the carpet installation. However, in her complaint on 26 April 2023, the resident highlighted that the lack of communication from the landlord was her main concern. This concern was reflected throughout the resident’s contact with the landlord.
  3. In its May 2023 stage 1 response, the landlord confirmed the agreement to fit carpet in the 3 stairwells leading to the neighbour’s property. This was intended to reduce the noise transfer into the resident’s property. Its response showed that it took the resident’s reports seriously and used initiative to provide a pro-active solution to the issue. However, the landlord did not establish a reasonable timeframe for this to occur. This caused the resident additional time and trouble later in the timeline.
  4. Between 15 May and 20 September 2023, there is no evidence that the landlord updated the resident about the carpet fitting. It was unclear to the resident why the landlord had not yet installed the carpet. Its failure to establish a reasonable timeframe to fit the carpet caused the resident additional time and trouble escalating her complaint on 20 September 2023.
  5. In its further stage 1 response on 10 October 2023, the landlord acknowledged the resident’s dissatisfaction with its tenancy solutions team. However, the resident’s complaint related to a lack of updates from the officer responsible. Its response did not address the failed communication during this time, nor did it provide any updates in relation to the carpet installation. The resident referred directly to both issues in her complaint.
  6. This demonstrates a missed opportunity for the landlord to prevent a complaint escalation. Its failure to recognise the resident’s distress and inconvenience, or its poor communication, caused her additional time and trouble.
  7. In its December 2023 stage 2 response, the landlord recognised the delays the resident had experienced and acknowledged that these were unacceptable. It stated the reason for delays was due to issues in adding the carpet supplier to their IT system. It highlighted that this was avoidable and recognised it could have sought an alternative supplier. It offered £300 compensation for the delays in installing the carpet.
  8. The Ombudsman welcomes and encourages landlords to learn from complaints. It is positive that the landlord reviewed its actions in December 2023 and considered ways in which it could improve. The landlord appropriately recognised the inconvenience caused to the resident. Its offer of £300 compensation was appropriate and reflected the failures in accordance with its own compensation policy. This compensation was also within a range that the Ombudsman would recommend where a service failure had an adverse impact on a resident. Given the time and trouble caused over a year, this compensation was proportionate.
  9. However, the landlord did not provide the resident with confirmation of the date the supplier would install the carpets. It also failed to explain how often, and by what means, it would keep her updated on progress. This was another missed opportunity to establish a contact plan and rebuild the relationship by providing regular communication. These failures contributed to a continued drift in the resolution of the matter. The landlord did not fit the carpets until March 2024, which was around 10 months after its initial decision to do so in May 2023.
  10. Overall, the Ombudsman finds service failure in the landlord’s handling of reports of ASB related to noise transfer. While the landlord’s offer of compensation was appropriate given its communication failures, its failure after the end of the complaints process to provide updates to the resident or install the carpet in a timely way meant there was service failure. We have not ordered additional compensation given the level of redress the landlord already offered in December 2023.

The associated complaint

  1. The resident raised a complaint on 20 September 2023. This related to an earlier complaint that was responded to in May 2023. The landlord appropriately acknowledged the complaint the same day. It issued its stage 1 response on 10 October 2023. This was 14 working days later. Its response was narrowly outside of the timescales set out in its policy.
  2. The resident requested a complaint escalation on 11 October 2023. The landlord again responded appropriately that same day advising a full response would follow within 20 working days. However, it did not issue its stage 2 response in this timescale. This caused the resident additional time and trouble, for instance escalating her complaint to us on 29 November 2023. Once we contacted the landlord, it issued its response within our deadline of 28 December 2023. This delay was unreasonable, particularly given the dissatisfaction she expressed in September 2023 was a continuation of the matter the landlord responded to in May 2023 so could have been escalated at that point (referred to in paragraphs 19-20 above).
  3. The landlord appropriately apologised for the delay in its stage 2 response. Its offer of £50 compensation was reasonable and reflects the Ombudsman’s Guidance on Remedies for a service failure of a short duration.
  4. Overall, the Ombudsman finds reasonable redress in the landlord’s handling of the complaint. There was a delay of more than 2 months in the landlord’s stage 2 response. However, the landlord recognised this and offered appropriate redress.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of ASB, regarding noise transfer.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 53(b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was reasonable redress in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord must:
    1. Provide an apology to the resident for the failings identified in this report.
    2. Pay the resident the £300 offered at Stage 2 for the delays in installing the carpet, if not already paid.
  2. The landlord must provide evidence of compliance with the above orders to the Ombudsman within 4 weeks.

Recommendations

  1. If it has not already done so, the landlord should pay the resident £50 offered at stage 2 for delays in its complaint response. The Ombudsman’s finding of reasonable redress is made on the basis that this amount is paid.
  2. The landlord should consider the failures identified in this report and share the findings with its staff responsible for ASB management. It should highlight the need for establishing an effective action plan from the outset when receiving reports of ASB. It should consider making it clear within its policy that an appropriate contact plan must form part of the initial action plan.