London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202326097)

Decision
Case ID	202326097
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	London & Quadrant Housing Trust
Landlord type	Housing Association
Occupancy	Shared Ownership
Date	18 March 2026

Background

1. The resident is a variable service charge payer. In July 2023, the landlord issued its final reconciliation of the resident’s service charges (the Actuals) for 2022 to 2023. The resident asked the landlord to provide her with the accounts, receipts and documentation it used in its reconciliation of those accounts. The resident’s complaint is about the landlord’s response to her request.

What the complaint is about

2. This complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s request for evidence of the actual costs and supporting documents relating to her service charges for 2022 to 2023.
3. We have also considered how the landlord handled the complaint.

Our decision (determination)

4. We have found that:
   1. there was maladministration by the landlord in response to the resident’s request for evidence of the actual costs and supporting documents relating to her service charges for 2022 to 2023.
   2. there was maladministration by the landlord in how it handled the complaint.

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

Summary of reasons

5. The resident initially asked for actual costs and supporting documents for 2022 to 2023 in September 2023. Despite repeated requests until May 2024, these were not provided. Under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, residents have the right to inspect receipts for the last year, and landlords must comply even if a managing agent is involved. The landlord’s failure to obtain or provide access to the documents requested understandably caused unnecessary frustration and inconvenience to the resident.
6. There was an unreasonable delay in the landlord acknowledging and responding to the resident’s complaint at both stages of the complaints process, with it only providing its responses following contact from us. This was not reasonable and understandably caused unnecessary inconvenience and frustration to the resident which the £40 compensation offered was not sufficient to put right.

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 20 April 2026
2	Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident a total of £300 made up as follows: £200 for the significant inconvenience and frustration to her as a result of its failure to comply with its obligations under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 £100 (in replacement of the £40 previously offered) for the inconvenience and frustration as a result of the delay in the landlord acknowledging and responding to her complaint at both stages of its complaints process. The landlord may deduct the £40 previously offered if it has already paid this 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 20 April 2026
3	Take specific action order The landlord is to liaise with its managing agent to obtain, or to arrange for the resident to otherwise view, the documents she requested relating to the actual costs for her service charges for 2022 to 2023.	No later than 20 April 2026
4	Review order The landlord must carry out a review of its handling of the resident’s request to inspect evidence of the actual costs and supporting documents relating to her service charges for 2022 to 2023. This review should include, but is not limited to: an assessment of relevant staffs knowledge and understanding of its obligation to obtain, or to arrange for the resident to otherwise view, documents relating to their variable service charges This is to include situations where there is a managing agent and where the final accounts for the managing agent may not be ready an assessment of what training it might need to undertake to address any identified shortfall in its staffs knowledge and understanding By the due date given, the landlord is to provide us with a copy of its review together with an action plan as to how it will address any identified shortfalls in its staffs knowledge and understanding to ensure similar failures do not occur again.	No later than 19 May 2026

 

Recommendations

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

Our recommendations
It is recommended that the landlord contact the resident to discuss: her request to also have access to supporting documents relating to her service charges for 2020 to 2021, 2021 to 2022 and 2023 to 2024 what steps it will take to facilitate access to its managing agents records for these periods

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
11 March 2024	Following contact from the resident, we wrote to the landlord to ask it to reply to her complaint. We confirmed her complaint was about its response to her request for evidence of the actual costs and supporting documents relating to her service charges for 2022 to 2023. We asked the landlord to provide its response by 18 March 2024.
13 March 2024	The landlord issued its stage 1 response in which it said: It had fulfilled the resident’s request for receipts of expenditure based on the managing agents budgeted costs. To date its final reconciliation had not included a balancing charge/credit for the managing agents costs. This was because the managing agent had not issued its costs on time. The resident had the right under Section 23 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 to view supporting invoices within 6 months following receipt of the Managing Agent’s own accounts.
23 March 2024	The resident escalated her complaint. The resident said: She had still not been provided with the relevant receipts and the landlord had only provided budgeted amounts for the managing agents charges. The resident asked the landlord to request this information from the managing agent and to share this with her.
13 May 2024	Following contact from the resident, we wrote to the landlord to asked that it provide its stage 2 response by 20 May 2024.
20 May 2024	The landlord issued its stage 2 response, in which it: Apologised it had taken longer than expected to respond to her complaint. Said, as it appointed the managing agent to provide services, it required them to issue it with a section 20B notice if they were unable to reconcile the accounts on time. However, as the resident paid her service charge to the landlord and its accounts had been issued on time, it did not have to issue section 20B notices to her. Explained the date for the accounts to be provided following a Section 20B under the Landlord and Tenant Act (1985) was open ended. There was no requirement for the accounts to be reconciled within 18 months. Said it was ‘incredibly sorry’ for the lack of communication throughout the resident’s complaint and the delay in it responding at Stage 2. The landlord offered the resident a total of £40 compensation for these acknowledged failures. This was made up of £20 for poor complaint handling and £20 for the time and effort involved in getting her complaint resolved.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident referred her complaint to us on 23 May 2024. The resident said that as a resolution she wanted the relevant receipts and accounts from the managing agent for 2022 to 2023,  as per her original complaint. She also wanted the landlord to provide her with the same for 2020 to 2021, 2021 to 2022 and 2023 to 2024.

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 response to the resident’s request for evidence of the actual costs and supporting documents relating to her service charges for 2022 to 2023.
Finding	Maladministration

7. On 17 July 2023, the landlord sent the resident a service charge statement for 2022 to 2023.
8. On 10 August 2023, the landlord emailed the resident to explain that as it had not had final accounts from the managing agent, it had only paid them based on the estimated costs. The landlord said there was no balancing debit or credit from the managing agent.
9. The landlord said in an email to the resident on 27 September 2023, its previous email of 10 August 2023 had included a breakdown of the invoices paid. The landlord said it had now attached copies of those invoices. The landlord said in its stage 1 response this included receipts of expenditure based on the managing agents budgeted costs. This is not disputed by the resident.
10. On 29 September 2023, the resident emailed the landlord to say that it had not yet provided all relevant information to justify the service charge. She noted that she had not received sufficient details regarding the managing agents costs, the building insurance, the communal heating costs, sinking fund contribution and the landlord management fee. The resident confirmed that she expected the landlord to provide a summary (showing how these costs had been worked out) and relevant paperwork about the charges.
11. On 31 October 2023, the resident emailed the landlord to say it had been a month since she had requested the accounts, receipts and other documents for 2022 to 2023 but had had no response.
12. Between 31 October 2023 and the landlord’s stage 2 response of 20 May 2024, the resident repeatedly asked the landlord to provide a summary showing its reconciliation of her service charge account and ‘any paperwork supporting the summary, such as receipts’. This included evidence related to both the landlord’s charges and those of the managing agent.
13. When we spoke to the resident on 10 December 2025, she said the landlord had still not provided the documents she had requested.
14. Although the landlord explained that the final accounts for the managing agent were not ready, she was still entitled to see details of the relevant costs. This right exists whether or not the final accounts have been produced.
15. For the landlord to have failed to recognise this, to have failed to obtain the documents from its managing agent or to have arranged for the resident to otherwise view these, was not reasonable. This failure would have been understandably frustrating and upsetting for the resident and has resulted in a finding of maladministration.

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	Maladministration

16. The Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (‘the Code) sets out when and how a landlord should respond to complaints. The relevant Code in this case is the 2022 edition (March 2022).
17. The landlord had a published complaints policy which complied with the terms of the Code in respect of timescales at the time of the complaint.
18. Both the landlord’s complaints policy and the Code define a complaint as an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the landlord. As the resident had clearly expressed her dissatisfaction with the landlord’s response in her email of 31 October 2023, it should have considered her concerns as a formal complaint at this point.
19. In accordance with the timescales set out in its complaints policy and the Code the landlord should then have acknowledged the complaint and provided its stage 1 response by 21 November 2023, allowing 5 working days to acknowledge and 10 to respond.
20. However, by 7 December 2023 and having not received the landlord’s response, the resident contacted us to ask us to help her progress her complaint. We then wrote to the landlord on 11 March 2024 asking that it provide a stage 1 response by 18 March 2024.
21. The landlord complied with our instruction, issuing its stage 1 response on 13 March 2024. However, it should not have taken the landlord almost 5 months, nor should the resident have had to ask for our help, for it to have done so.
22. The resident escalated her complaint on 23 March 2024. In accordance with its complaint handling policy and the Code, the landlord should then have provided its stage 2 response by 22 April 2024. This being 20 working days since the complaint was escalated.
23. The landlord continued to correspond with the resident about her concerns but failed to provide a stage 2 response to her complaint. On 8 May 2024, 12 working days after its response was due, the resident again contacted us to ask for our help. We then wrote to the landlord on 13 May 2024 asking it to provide the resident with its stage 2 response by 20 May 2024, which it did.
24. Again, it should not have taken the landlord almost 2 months, nor should the resident have had to ask for our help, for it to have done so.
25. These repeated failures by the landlord to respond to the resident’s complaint would have been understandably frustrating and upsetting for her. Whilst the landlord offered the resident £40 compensation for its complaint handling failures, this was not sufficient to provide the resident with redress and as such a finding of maladministration has been made.
26. There was also an error in the landlord’s stage 1 response. It stated that under section 23 of the LTA 1985 the resident could make her request directly to the managing agent. However, this was intended to refer to section 22. Later responses corrected this issue.
27. Whilst this error did not impact the ultimate outcome, it would have understandably caused further frustration to the resident and for her to question the landlord’s attention to detail and how seriously it was taking her complaint. As the landlord later confirmed to us, it and not the superior landlord had appointed the managing agent. The landlord also explained that this ‘‘oversight’’ was ‘’likely’’ because the majority of the cases it dealt with were from properties where this was not the case.

Learning

28. The lack of clarity within the landlord as to whether the resident’s concerns should have been responded to as a service charge request or formal complaint resulted in its repeated failure to provide the resident with a timely response to her complaint. The landlord should therefore consider what learning it might take from this case to ensure this lack of clarity does not happen again going forward.

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

29. There were no record keeping issues identified during the course of this investigation.

Communication

30. It is understandable that the resident would be frustrated by the landlord’s failures with regards to her request for access to documents and for the repeated delay in it providing her with a response to her complaint. However, outside of these specific issues, and from the evidence we have seen, no other communication issues were identified during the course of this investigation.