London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202333912)

Background

1. The resident’s property is within a converted house. She reported noise nuisance from her neighbour to her landlord, and it opened an antisocial behaviour (ASB) case. The resident said the noise happened throughout the day and night and caused her mental health to deteriorate.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
   1. Reports of ASB.
   2. Complaint.

Our decision (determination)

3. We found:
   1. Service failure for the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of ASB.
   2. Service failure for the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

We have made orders for the landlord to put things right.

Summary of reasons

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of ASB

4. The resident reported ASB to the landlord and it acted on this. It visited the neighbour and gave her a warning letter. It signposted the resident for support, kept in contact with her and offered mediation to the resident and her neighbour to resolve the ASB. The landlord said it did not act on the resident’s request to escalate the ASB case to a manager, but it did not apologise for this. When the neighbour declined mediation with the resident, the landlord did not explain to the resident what the next steps would be for the ASB case.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint

5. The landlord delayed its acknowledgement of the resident’s complaint and apologised for this at stage 1. At stage 2, it delayed the acknowledgement and complaint response and did not acknowledge this or try to put things right for the resident.

Putting things right

Where we find service failure, maladministration, or severe maladministration we can make orders for the landlord to put things right. We have the discretion to make recommendations in all other cases within our jurisdiction.

Orders

Landlords must comply with our orders in the manner and timescales we specify. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of compliance with our orders by the due date set.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

What we found and why

The circumstances of this complaint are well known by the parties involved, so it is not necessary to detail everything that’s happened or comment on all the information we’ve reviewed. We’ve only included the key information that forms the basis of our decision of whether the landlord is responsible for maladministration.

What we did not investigate

6. The resident complained of ASB by her neighbour since 2018. However, we have not seen evidence of a formal complaint exhausting the landlord’s complaints process until February 2024. In the interest of fairness our investigation will focus on events from October 2023 to February 2024.
7. The resident said the noise from her neighbour had a detrimental impact on her health and wellbeing. The courts are the most effective place for disputes about personal injury and illness. This is because independent medical experts can give evidence. While we can consider the overall impact of the situation on the resident, we cannot decide causation or liability for personal injury like a court can. If the resident wishes to pursue a personal injury claim she may wish to seek independent legal advice.
8. The resident said as resolution to the case, she would like to move to a different property. We cannot tell a landlord to move the resident or comment on how it should allocate vacant properties. Instead, our investigation will focus on how the landlord responded to the resident’s concerns.

What we did investigate

9. On 27 October 2023, the resident told the landlord her neighbour above was making banging noises which made her ceiling shake. She said the noises happen throughout the day and night. The resident said she spoke to her neighbour several times, but the noise had not stopped. She asked the landlord if it could soundproof her ceiling and what the process was to be moved to a new property.
10. The landlord visited the resident on 11 November 2023, and it agreed an action plan with her. It said it would open an ASB case, speak to the neighbour about the noise. It gave her advice on applying for a move for medical reasons. The landlord said it would contact her fortnightly and asked the resident to fill out diary sheets and send it noise recordings. It said it does not install soundproofing.
11. The landlord’s ASB policy says it will keep in regular contact with the resident and agree an action plan. It can also contact the perpetrator and use warning letters, mediation, and acceptable behaviour contracts (ABC) to manage the ASB. The policy does not include information about noise recordings and timeframes for actions.
12. On 13 November 2023, the landlord spoke to the resident’s neighbour about the ASB reports. The neighbour said she had 2 children, but they did not make excessive noise.
13. On 26 November 2023, the resident sent a diary log of 8 noise incidents by her neighbour from the past 4 weeks. The landlord sent the resident’s neighbour a warning letter on 15 December 2023. It told her the noise from her property was not acceptable and reminded her of her tenant responsibilities.
14. The landlord spoke to the resident’s neighbour on 18 December 2023 about the reports of ASB. She said her property was carpeted, and she thought the resident’s ceiling repair may be part of the noise problem. The resident told the landlord the noise was an issue before the ceiling repair.
15. At stage 1 the landlord said it acted in line with its ASB policy. The landlord kept in contact with the resident and agreed an action plan. It visited the neighbour and sent her a warning letter. The landlord checked if the ceiling repair was the issue and if it could soundproof the property. However, the landlord said it did not refer the case to a manager as the resident requested. It said it spoke to the member of staff about this, but the landlord did not apologise for this error.
16. On 18 January 2024, the landlord asked the resident to send it any further noise recordings. It said it sent her a medical assessment form to complete to apply for a move and offered to visit her property in the evening to hear the noise. The landlord asked the resident if she would take part in mediation with her neighbour and she agreed.
17. On 19 January 2024, the landlord spoke to the neighbour. It asked her what actions she had taken to reduce the noise. The landlord told the neighbour if the noise continued it may have to take legal action. On 9 February 2024 the neighbour declined the offer of mediation and said the noise from her property was not excessive.
18. On 13 February 2024, the landlord asked the resident if she would like to take part in sole mediation without the neighbour and the resident agreed. On 16 February 2024, the landlord asked the resident’s neighbour to consider mediation again, but she declined.
19. At stage 2 the landlord said it took appropriate steps in dealing with the resident’s ASB case and followed its policy. The neighbour denied the reports of excessive noise and declined mediation. The landlord said the ASB case was ongoing, but it did not outline the next steps and what other tools it could use to tackle the ASB, such as asking the neighbour to agree to an ABC.
20. Our role is to consider whether the landlord resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. To do this we considered our dispute resolution principles, be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
21. In summary, the landlord took steps in line with its ASB policy. It kept in regular contact with the resident and warned the neighbour about the noise.
22. However, it failed to apologise for the service failure it identified in its stage 1 response and did not offer any compensation in line with its policy. Its lack of communication about what other steps it could take meant the resident lost confidence in its ability to address the ASB she reported.
23. We have ordered the landlord to pay £100 compensation to the resident for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of her reports of ASB. This is in line with our remedies guidance for service failure when a landlord has made a minor failure which it did not acknowledge or fully put right.

24. The landlord’s complaints policy says it will acknowledge a stage 1 complaint by the next working day, and it will reply in full within 10 working days. The landlord’s acknowledgement was delayed by around 2 working days, and it apologised for this. It’s stage 1 response was within the policy time.
25. The landlord’s complaints policy says it will acknowledge a stage 2 complaints within 3 working days and send a full response within 20 working days. The landlord acknowledged the resident’s escalation request in 5 working days and its full response was delayed by 12 working days. The landlord did not acknowledge the delays in its stage 2 response.
26. In summary, the landlord’s stage 1 acknowledgment was briefly delayed, and it apologised. However, it did not acknowledge the delays at stage 2, and this caused the resident distress and inconvenience.
27. We have ordered the landlord to pay the resident £50 compensation for this failure. This is in line with our remedies guidance for a minor failure by the landlord which it did not acknowledge.