Hyde Housing Association Limited (202421001)

Decision
Case ID	202421001
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	Hyde Housing Association Limited
Landlord type	Housing Association
Occupancy	Assured Shorthold Tenancy
Date	27 January 2026

Background

The resident was unhappy with the landlord’s handling of her complaint, as it did not escalate the matter to stage 2 when she requested this.

What the complaint is about

The landlord’s complaint handling, in particular a delay in responding to the resident’s escalation request.

Our decision (determination)

We have found that there was a reasonable offer of redress for the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

Summary of reasons

The landlord appropriately acknowledged the delays and offered compensation in line with its policy.

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.

Recommendations

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

Our recommendations
The landlord should review its complaint handling procedures to ensure new complaints are logged, acknowledged, and progressed through each stage in line with the Complaint Handling Code and its complaints policy. It should also ensure that residents are clearly informed of their escalation rights.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
17 April 2024	The landlord compensated the resident on several separate complaints, but she later raised concerns that the payments were applied to her rent account without being given the opportunity to escalate the complaint to stage 2.
10 May 2024	The landlord issued a stage 1 response stating that it would not change its decision regarding how the compensation was applied to the rent account. In this letter the landlord provided the resident with referral rights to our service. The resident escalated her complaint stating that the landlord had no right to force her to accept the compensation or to put the money in the rent account. The landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint on 12 August 2024.
19 August 2024	The landlord issued a stage 2 response and acknowledged that it had not escalated the resident’s complaint when requested. In recognition of its service failures, it offered £25 for the complaint handling issues.
Referral to the Ombudsman	Although the formal complaint refers to the landlord’s handling of the rent account and delays in complaint handling, the resident has asked that we only consider the landlord’s complaint handling. This is because she wants all matters relating to compensation to be dealt with under a separate complaint. (Our reference 202449686 – landlord ref: 00483114).

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	The landlord’s complaint handling, in particular a delay in responding to the resident’s escalation request
Finding	Reasonable redress

The resident raised a complaint on 17 April 2024. There is no evidence that the landlord acknowledged this within 5 working days. When responding on 10 May 2024, the landlord combined the resident’s separate previous complaints and did not offer her the opportunity to escalate her new complaint to stage 2. Instead, it directed her to our service.
While the landlord may have believed it was practical to address all matters together, it should have allowed the resident’s new complaint to progress through its internal complaints process. This is required under the Complaint Handling Code to ensure a fair investigation.
Despite the resident escalating her complaint on 10 May 2024, the landlord did not acknowledge this until 12 August 2024 and issued its stage 2 response on 19 August 2024. This was outside its policy timescales and resulted in the resident being left without clarity for approximately 3 months, causing avoidable distress and inconvenience.
In its stage 2 response, the landlord acknowledged that it failed to escalate the complaint when requested. It apologised and offered £25 compensation.
Overall, although the landlord did not act in line with its policy timescales or provide timely updates, it acknowledged its failings, apologised, and offered compensation. We consider the landlord’s offer of compensation to be fair and proportionate, as it recognised the service failures and provided an appropriate level of redress which was proportionate to the inconvenience caused.

Learning

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

Record‑keeping is essential so that every complaint is logged and acknowledged within five working days. In this case, missing evidence of the April acknowledgement shows gaps in tracking communication.

Communication

The landlord should explore any learning it can take from this case, in terms of keeping complaints separate, unless it has discussed this with the resident and followed the correct process. Combining issues without offering a stage 2 escalation shows unclear communication and poor management of the complaints process.