A2Dominion Housing Group Limited (202421949)

Decision
Case ID	202421949
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	A2Dominion Housing Group Limited
Landlord type	Housing Association
Occupancy	Assured Tenancy
Date	16 February 2026

Background

1. The resident moved into temporary accommodation in February 2024. She stayed there until April 2024 while the landlord completed damp repairs in her home. She complained about how the landlord managed her move into the temporary accommodation and her return to the property.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of a temporary accommodation move.
3. We have also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Our decision (determination)

4. We found reasonable redress in the landlord’s handling of the temporary accommodation move.
5. We found service failure in the landlord’s handling of the complaint.

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

Summary of reasons

6. The landlord accepted its communication and quality of work had been poor. It apologised and offered compensation that reflected the failings and was in line with our remedies guidance.
7. The landlord did not address all the issues the resident raised in her complaint.

 

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 16 March 2026
2	Compensation Order The landlord must pay the resident £50 for its complaint handling failure. It must pay this directly to the resident by the due date. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of payment by the due date.	No later than 16 March 2026
3	Action Order The landlord must write to the resident by the due date, set out its position on loss of room compensation, and give clear reasons for its decision. It must provide a copy of this explanation to this Service by the due date.	No later than 16 March 2026

 

Recommendations

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

Our recommendations
If it has not already done so, the landlord should pay the resident the £250 it offered through its complaints process for its handling of the temporary accommodation move. We made our reasonable redress decision on the basis that it has paid this amount. If it has not already paid this, it should pay it directly to the resident.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
3 June 2024	The resident raised a complaint. She said the landlord treated her poorly during and after her move to temporary accommodation. She paid to move twice, contractors lost her keys, and she did not receive the electricity refund the landlord promised. She also said she had to pay a £400 moving bill, the landlord had cut her internet wire, and it refused her extra time to move back. This left her without wardrobes and sleeping on the living room floor with her children.
14 June 2024	The landlord issued its stage 1 response. It said it managed the move into temporary accommodation in line with its policy. It had no evidence for electricity or removal costs and acknowledged that it did not change the locks correctly. It accepted it did not complete the inventory process or investigate the cut internet wire. It apologised and offered £250 compensation made up of £100 for inconvenience, £100 for cutting the internet wire, and £50 for poor communication.
3 July 2024	The resident escalated her complaint. She said the landlord’s compensation did not reflect the impact on her household because she and her family were still sleeping on the floor due to boxes in her bedroom. She also asked the landlord to consider compensation for loss of a room.
21 July 2024	The landlord issued its stage 2 response. It acknowledged it cut the internet wire and poor communication. It said its offer of £250 at stage 1 was reasonable and in line with its policy.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident asked us to investigate her complaint. She said she was unhappy with the landlord’s handling of her move into temporary accommodation and its offer of compensation.

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	Temporary accommodation move
Finding	Reasonable redress

What we did not investigate

8. The resident raised concerns about lost keys and an electricity refund in her initial complaint to the landlord. However, these issues were not part of the stage 2 escalation or response. We do not investigate matters that have not exhausted a landlord’s complaints process. We will therefore not investigate these issues.

What we did investigate

9. The landlord informed the resident that she would need to move into temporary accommodation so it could complete damp works in the property on 13 February 2024. The resident signed to accept the temporary accommodation on 16 February 2024, and it confirmed the move date would be 27 February 2024. It said the resident could claim moving costs and agreed to give her an extra week to unpack after the works. These actions followed its decants policy, which says the landlord must tell residents about the move as early as possible and support them with reasonable moving costs.
10. On 25 March 2024 the landlord moved the resident to a different temporary accommodation on the ground floor because a neighbour had raised concerns about noise. The decant policy allows the landlord to change temporary accommodation when needed, so it was reasonable for it to move her.
11. In its stage 1 response on 14 June 2024, the landlord said it had followed its policy when arranging the moves. It also confirmed it paid the resident £100 towards her moving costs because she could not provide invoices. The decant policy says residents must provide receipts for reimbursement. It acted reasonably when it used discretion to still contribute.
12. On 2 April 2024 the landlord told the resident that damp and mould had damaged her wardrobes. It explained that she could claim through her contents insurance, or through its insurers if she had no policy. This followed its compensation policy. After the resident said she had nowhere to store her clothes, the landlord gave her £185 goodwill payment on 15 May 2024 to help her buy replacement wardrobes. This showed it took practical steps to support her while following its compensation policy.
13. The landlord completed the works on 11 April 2024, and the resident returned to the property on 25 April 2024, 14 days later. The decant policy says it should arrange for residents to return to their home as soon as it has finished the works. It was appropriate for it to use discretion and extend the temporary accommodation to reduce disruption. In its stage 1 response, it reasonably explained the steps it had taken and acknowledged the resident’s concern that the extension was not longer. It offered £100 for the distress and inconvenience caused.
14. The landlord’s compensation policy says it uses our remedies guidance when calculating compensation. Its offer of £100 fell within the range for cases where service failings have had an adverse impact on a resident. By offering compensation, it showed it had taken the resident’s concerns seriously, recognised the distress and inconvenience caused, and provided a reasonable level of redress in line with our remedies guidance.
15. A part of the resident’s complaint was that the landlord had cut the internet wire while it completed the damp works. It accepted this in its complaint responses and explained that it had not raised the issue with its project team during the handover. It apologised and offered £100 for cutting the wire and £50 for its poor communication. This was an appropriate response, and the compensation offered was in line with our remedies guidance for failings that caused an adverse affect on the resident.
16. Overall, the landlord acknowledged its failings including poor communication and quality of work. It apologised and offered compensation that reflected the impact on the resident and was in line with our remedies guidance. On this basis, we find that the landlord provided reasonable redress in its handling of the temporary accommodation move.

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	Service failure

17. The landlord uses a 2‑stage complaints procedure aligned to the Complaint Handling Code (The Code). The Code requires stage 1 responses within 10 working days and stage 2 responses within 20 working days.
18. The landlord acknowledged complaints and provided responses at both stages within the timescales set out in its policy.
19. However, in her escalation request, the resident said she could not use her bedrooms because boxes filled the rooms after her wardrobes became damaged. She asked the landlord to consider a loss of room payment. The landlord did not fully address this issue in its stage 2 response. This was not in line with the Code, which requires landlords to respond to every issue raised and to give clear reasons for its decisions. By not addressing this matter, it showed that it had not fully understood the resident’s complaint or the outcome she sought. It also missed an opportunity to fully investigate and put things right, which was a service failure.
20. We order the landlord to pay the resident £50 compensation for its failure to address all the issues raised in the resident’s stage 1 complaint. This amount is in line with our remedies guidance when there was a failure by the landlord in the service it provided, and it did not acknowledge this failure or put it right.

Learning

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

21. The landlord kept good records of the actions it had taken when moving the resident to and from temporary accommodation.

Communication

22. The landlord should give clear updates, explain decisions, and respond directly to each issue the resident raises. This will help residents understand what is happening and why.

Complaint handling

23. The landlord did not address all the issues the resident raised in her complaint. It could reflect on this and consider any learning and staff training needs.