Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTV) (202326885)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202326885

Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTV)

27 May 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 the sale and handover of the resident’s new build property.

Background

  1. The resident is a shared owner of the property. The sale completed on 17 November 2023.
  2. On 10 September 2022, the landlord confirmed that the resident had paid a £250 reserve fee for the property.
  3. In April 2023, the landlord identified that it could not complete the handover as it needed to do further fire safety works at the property.
  4. On 6 July 2023, the resident raised a stage 1 complaint due to the delays in the handover process. The resident said that she had been told by the landlord that the handover would be in March–April 2023 but this did not happen. The resident said that the landlord had continued to provide deadlines which it did not meet, causing significant distress and inconvenience.
  5. The landlord provided a stage 1 response on 20 July 2023 and partially upheld the complaint. It said that there had not been a service failing but acknowledged the time and trouble the resident experienced. The landlord advised that it was awaiting further works and the appropriate clearance before it could consider the property suitable for handover. It offered compensation of £100 for the time and trouble the resident experienced.
  6. The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 on 15 August 2023. She asked questions related to the property, the outstanding works and when she could move in.
  7. On 21 September 2023, the landlord provided its stage 2 response. It upheld the complaint due to the delay in the completion of the required works and said that “closure works” were due to start on 2 October 2023. The landlord offered further compensation of £200 due to the delays and the time and trouble experienced by the resident.
  8. The resident brought her complaint to this Service on 6 November 2023 as she was unhappy that she still had not taken possession of the property. The resident wanted the landlord to complete the handover process and provide compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused.
  9. When the landlord responded to the Ombudsman in July 2024, it told us that it would offer the resident £100 compensation on top of the £300 it awarded through the complaints process. It also advised that it would look to reimburse the £250 reserve fee.

Assessment and findings

Sale and handover of the resident’s new build property

  1. Landlord records show that in March 2023, it said that it anticipated that the handover would be that month or in April 2023. The memorandum of sale said that the landlord would serve notice to complete the sale within 10 working days “as soon as the property achieves practical completion” and meets its “compliance and health and safety requirements”. 
  2. The landlord carried out a fire safety inspection of the property on 19 April 2023. This report identified that it needed to carry out further works before a handover of the property was possible. Given the health and safety concerns, the landlord could not progress with the handover until it had completed those works.
  3. The memorandum of sale also said that the landlord would “continue to keep you and your Solicitor regularly updated on the progress” but it would not “be held responsible in the event of construction or contractual delays”.
  4. The landlord provided contact logs which show that, after the inspection, the landlord made almost weekly calls to the resident to provide updates on the process. Internal landlord emails show that it chased dates for the works to be completed during May 2023.
  5. On 2 June 2023, the landlord told the resident that works were still outstanding and it needed to complete another inspection. On 30 June 2023, the landlord provided a similar update to the resident.
  6. Although the landlord maintained regular contact with the resident during this period, it did not provide clear timeframes as to when the property would be ready. It is understandable that the resident became frustrated with the lack of clarity. However, given the reason for the delays, the landlord acted appropriately in delaying the handover until the property met the required standards. 
  7. The landlord continued to provide regular updates to the resident throughout the complaint process. However, these again did not provide clear timeframes for completion.
  8. Within the landlord’s stage 2 response, it acknowledged that some of the works contributing to the delay “should have been completed some time ago”. It then detailed steps it had taken to ensure the works would be completed and offered dates for them to begin. Although the landlord’s updates did not provide a definitive handover date, it also did not set the resident’s expectations incorrectly.
  9. It is not disputed by the landlord that there were delays in the completion of fire safety works at the property which delayed the handover. However, the landlord was unable to perform the handover until the safety works were complete and there is no evidence that it missed a proposed handover date after April 2023.
  10. Within her complaint submissions, the resident detailed the inconvenience she experienced while awaiting the handover of the property. She said that she had been living a sizable distance from her workplace and the delays caused significant inconvenience in her travel to work and her social life. It is understood that this will inevitably have been very disruptive. Nevertheless, although the landlord was responsible for the delays in finalising the works, it did not suggest the resident should move pending the handover.
  11. Within its complaint responses, the landlord offered a time and trouble payment of £300 due to the delays that the resident experienced. However, when providing evidence to this Service, the landlord made an offer to provide an additional compensation payment of £100 and to reimburse the £250 sales fee.
  12. The landlord took a resolution focused approach when making an improved offer. However, the landlord made this offer outside of its complaint process and only after the resident brought her case to this Service for review.
  13. The total payment of £650 it offered was in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance where a landlord’s actions had an adverse effect on a resident. However, this Service cannot make a reasonable redress finding in this instance as the landlord did not make this offer during its complaint process and it is not clear that it was ever made to the resident.
  14. In summary, it is understandable that the delays were a cause of frustration for the resident, especially given the inconveniences she detailed. Although the landlord maintained contact throughout and provided updates, it acknowledged that it should have completed the required works sooner than it did. In view of this, the Ombudsman makes a finding of service failure in the landlord’s handling of the sale and handover of the resident’s property.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the sale and handover of the resident’s new build property.

Orders

  1. Within 28 days of this report, the landlord is required to provide a written apology to the resident for the failings identified in this report.
  2. Within 28 days of this report, the landlord should pay the resident total compensation of £650 (£400 for service failings and £250 sales fee reimbursement) for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of the sale and handover of her new build property. This amount can be reduced if any of these payments have already been made.
  3. The landlord must reply to this Service with evidence of compliance with these orders within the timescale set out above.