Southern Housing (202347299)

Decision
Case ID	202347299
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	Southern Housing
Landlord type	Housing Association
Occupancy	Assured Tenancy
Date	26 November 2025

Background

The resident lives in a flat in a communal building with her husband and daughter. She raised concerns that the landlord was not effectively responding to her reports of antisocial behaviour (ASB).

What the complaint is about

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

Our decision (determination)

We have found there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
1. Reports of ASB by a neighbour.
2. Complaint.

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

Summary of reasons

ASB

The landlord did not respond to reports of ASB in line with its policy and its communication was poor. It failed to identify all failings in its complaint responses or provide proportionate redress.

Complaint handling

There were delays in the landlord’s handling of the complaint. Although it acknowledged these at stage 1, further delays ensued at stage 2 which it did not acknowledge, apologise, or offer redress for.

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.

Order	What the landlord must do	Due date
1	Apology order The landlord must apologise in writing to the resident for the failures identified in this report. The landlord must ensure: The apology is specific to the failures identified in this decision, meaningful and empathetic. It has due regard to our apologies guidance.	No later than 05 January 2026
2	Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident £405 made up as follows: £205 offered in its stage 1 complaint response. This can be deducted if already paid. An additional £150 for time and trouble for the further identified failings in its handling of the ASB. An additional £50 for time and trouble for its complaint handling failure at stage 2. This must be paid directly to the resident by the due date. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of payment by the due date.	No later than 05 January 2026

Order

What the landlord must do

Due date

Apology order

The landlord must apologise in writing to the resident for the failures identified in this report. The landlord must ensure:

The apology is specific to the failures identified in this decision, meaningful and empathetic.
It has due regard to our apologies guidance.

No later than

05 January 2026

Compensation order

The landlord must pay the resident £405 made up as follows:

£205 offered in its stage 1 complaint response. This can be deducted if already paid.
An additional £150 for time and trouble for the further identified failings in its handling of the ASB.
An additional £50 for time and trouble for its complaint handling failure at stage 2.

This must be paid directly to the resident by the due date. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of payment by the due date.

No later than

05 January 2026

Recommendations

Our recommendations are not binding, and a landlord may decide not to follow them.

Our recommendations
The landlord should contact the resident to discuss any current ASB. It should determine if it would be appropriate to open a new case. If so, it should complete an action plan in discussion with the resident to ensure that she is clear about how it intends to handle any incidents.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
1 January 2023	The resident told the landlord that her neighbour was causing ASB. Her reports included, loud music, noise, a smell of cannabis, visitors fighting and rubbish left in the communal area. She told the landlord that a visitor to the neighbouring property had racially abused her, which she had reported to the police.
Between June 2023 and September 2023	The resident continued to report issues with ASB to the landlord using its noise app and to the police.
11 September 2023	The resident complained to the landlord about its handling of her reports of ASB. She said it had not provided updates or addressed the ASB.
3 May 2024	The landlord’s stage 1 response apologised for its delay in responding to the complaint. It also apologised for failures identified in its handling of reports of ASB. It said its investigation into the matter was ongoing and it would keep the resident updated as part of its open ASB case. It offered £205 compensation comprising: £125 for inconvenience, time, and trouble. £50 for poor complaint handling. £30 for failing to respond within its policy timescales.
20 May 2024	The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2. She was unhappy that the landlord’s response omitted several instances of it not adhering to its policies. She wanted it to acknowledge its failings, manage her reports adequately, and resolve the ASB.
26 July 2024	The landlord sent its stage 2 response. It said since opening a new ASB case on 10 February 2024 it had taken appropriate action in line with its policy to address the issues the resident reported. It signposted her to support services and said it would work with other agencies to identify how it could support her.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s final response and brought the complaint to us. She reported that the ASB is ongoing and wants the landlord to resolve this.

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.

Complaint	Reports of ASB by a neighbour
Finding	Service failure

It is not disputed that there were failings in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of ASB. When this is the case, we will consider whether the redress offered by the landlord (apology, compensation and offer to review the ASB) put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. In considering this, we take into account whether the landlord’s offer of redress was in line with our dispute resolution principles, be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
The resident told the landlord, on 1 January 2023, that she had been a victim of racial abuse by a visitor to her neighbour. The evidence shows that the landlord responded to this report 4 working days outside of the timescales set out in its policy to respond to a hate crime.
That said, after gathering evidence from the resident, the landlord confirmed on 10 February 2023 that it had opened a new ASB case. It took proportionate action including liaising with the police, referring the resident to support services and issuing a warning letter to the alleged perpetrator. Despite the positive action taken, it failed to update the resident fortnightly as set out in its policy.
The landlord also failed to write to the resident in May 2023, in accordance with its policy, to advise her that it had closed the ASB case. This led to confusion when she reported further instances of ASB in August 2023 as she believed her case was still active.
The resident made further reports of ASB including noise and visitors smoking cannabis, to the police between June and August 2023. This information was subsequently passed to the landlord on 24 August 2023. Between August and October 2023,she chased it on multiple occasions for an update. Its failure to effectively communicate caused her avoidable time and trouble chasing responses. It also did not demonstrate that it acted in line with its ASB policy in reopening the case at this time.
The landlord reviewed the resident’s ASB reports in October 2023. It said that the evidence she provided did not demonstrate that ASB was taking place. However, its housing team would investigate the noise issue further. Its communication lacked empathy and provided no timescales. Given the resident had expressed her frustration of its handling of the case up to this point, this likely damaged the relationship between the parties further.
The evidence shows that following its opening of a new ASB case in November 2023, the landlord took proportionate action in line with its policy. This included conducting risk assessments, carrying out home visits and putting an acceptable behaviour agreement in place. It also offered the service of a professional witness and liaised with external agencies including the police and social services. As the police indicated there was not enough evidence to prove criminal activity it was limited in the action it could take. Its offer of a professional witness to attempt to obtain supporting evidence was a positive step.
In the landlord’s stage 1 complaint response it acknowledged that it closed the ASB case without notifying the resident. It apologised if she felt its communication was inappropriate. It offered £125 compensation for the inconvenience. While it appropriately apologised and offered some redress, its compensation offer was not proportionate to the delays experienced by the resident. It also failed to acknowledge the multiple failings in adhering to its ASB policy or demonstrate any learning.
The landlord’s stage 2 response said that following a change of case handler in November 2023, it had taken appropriate action to address the ASB reports. It signposted the resident to support services and offered its professional witness service again to her. Although we recognise its handling of the case improved, its final response missed an opportunity to acknowledge the failures present between January and November 2023 that it had omitted from its prior response. This meant that it did not fully put things right for the resident. Therefore, with consideration of our remedies guidance, we have made orders for it to apologise and pay increased compensation.
The resident has told us that the ASB issues with her neighbour are ongoing. We have made a recommendation for the landlord to contact the resident to discuss this and what actions it will take.

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	Service failure

The landlord operates a 2-stage complaints process. It acknowledges complaints within 5 working days. It responds to stage 1 and 2 complaints within 10 and 20 working days respectively. This is compliant with the Complaint Handling Code (the Code).
The landlord did not correctly monitor its complaints process which indicates a record keeping failing. It failed to log the resident’s communication of 11 September 2023 as a complaint and did not respond to her chasing it 3 times between October 2023 and January 2024. It subsequently logged the complaint following our intervention on 24 April 2024, 7 months after she asked to make a complaint.
It was appropriate that in its stage 1 response the landlord apologised for its failure to log the resident’s complaint. It explained this was due to an administration error. It offered £80 compensation in recognition of its poor complaint handling. This is in line with our remedies guidance and was reasonable given the delay the resident experienced.
The landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint at stage 2 within its policy timescales. Although it sent her an extension letter, it sent this 20 working days after acknowledging her escalation request. Given this was its timescale for responding, it should have advised her of the delay before this period elapsed.
The landlord failed to provide its stage 2 response on 10 July 2024, as set out in its extension letter. It sent its response 22 working days later than the timescales set out in its policy. It failed to acknowledge the delay, apologise or offer redress. We have made an order for the landlord to apologise and pay additional compensation for the further delay.

Learning

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

The landlord did not keep clear records detailing all contact and action it took during its ASB case. This likely contributed to its failure to identify all failings through its complaint investigation. It is important it keeps a robust record of contact and action taken in ASB cases. This is because clear, accurate, and easily accessible records provide an audit trail and enhance landlords’ ability to identify and respond to problems when they arise.

Communication

There were multiple delays in contacting the resident regarding her reports of ASB and her complaint. There was little evidence to show it kept her updated about its actions between February and November 2023. It is important that the landlord effectively manages residents’ expectations about how it intends to respond to concerns and that they are kept informed of any delays and how it intends to mitigate the impact of these.