Accent Housing Limited (202503875)

Background

1. The resident has hearing difficulties. His preferred method of contact is letters or face-to-face. He had written to the landlord about various enquiries between June and October 2023, but it had not responded. He complained to the landlord around November 2023.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s communication with the resident.
3. The landlord’s complaint handling.

Our decision (determination)

4. There was reasonable redress which satisfactorily resolved the complaint about the landlord’s communication with the resident.
5. There was reasonable redress which satisfactorily resolved the landlord’s complaint handling.

Reasons

The landlord’s communication with the resident

6. Landlords have a legal obligation to reasonably adapt their ways of communicating with their vulnerable residents. This ensures that those residents can access its services without being disadvantaged. Landlords should also respond to resident’s enquiries within a reasonable time period.
7. In this case, the landlord acknowledged that:
   1. It had not responded to the resident’s letters.
   2. Its poor recording keep meant that it was unable to verify which letters it had received and which letters it had not, including letters prior 2023.
   3. It had not recorded the resident’s preferred method of contact.
8. That it took the landlord approximately 6 months to take steps to respond to the resident’s 2023 enquiry caused him avoidable distress and inconvenience. It offered him £250 compensation for its failings that caused the delay. Taking into consideration the length of the delay and the resident’s vulnerabilities, the compensation offer was reasonable and in line with our compensation guidance for failings that adversely affected the resident.
9. The evidence shows that the landlord visited the resident several times during the complaint process and shortly after to discuss his concerns. This was positive and demonstrated that the landlord was taking steps to put matters right.
10. The landlord wrote to the resident following its September 2024 visit. The letter confirmed that the meeting had taken place and the resident considered that the complaint was closed. While not a failing, it would have been reasonable for the landlord to have included its response to any of the resident’s outstanding enquiries he may have had within the letter. This would have ensured that it had satisfied itself and the resident that it had fully responded to them.
11. The evidence also demonstrates that the landlord also recorded the resident’s vulnerabilities and preferred method of contact on its system. This was appropriate.
12. It is also acknowledged that the landlord implemented a customer inclusion and support policy in November 2025 which “sets out how [it] will adjust [its] services and processes to ensure fairness, accessibility, and inclusion for everyone”. This is welcomed and demonstrates that the landlord is taking steps to mitigate any similar failings from occurring in the future.

The landlord’s complaint handling

13. The landlord’s complaint policy says that it will respond to stage 1 complaints within 10 working days, and it will respond to stage 2 complaints within 20 working days.
14. The landlord took approximately 3 months to respond to the resident’s stage 1 complaint. While unclear, the available evidence suggests that it also took approximately 2 months to respond to his stage 2 complaint. As such, both of its responses significantly exceeded its policy response timescales.
15. The landlord offered the resident £150 compensation for poor complaint handling. While it did not acknowledge its delayed stage 2 response, the overall compensation was reasonable for both delayed responses and in line with our compensation guidance for such failings.
16. Around April 2024 we updated our contact address. It is noted that the landlord’s August 2024 stage 2 response referenced our previous address. The evidence shows that it has since updated its records.

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.