Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association Limited (202528032)

Background

1. On 19 August 2025, the resident complained to the landlord about its communication. She explained:

•  A surveyor had attended in February 2025 in relation to external works and she had not received an update.
• It failed to notify her that the recently installed scaffolding was going to be erected.
• On 6 August 2025 she emailed her housing officer with her concerns about potential sub-letting and other matters which had not been responded to.

What the complaint is about

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

Our decision (determination)

3. There was service failure in the landlord’s communication with the resident.

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

Reasons

4. Landlords should respond to their residents within a reasonable timeframe to ensure their enquiries are promptly answered and resolved. The landlord’s cyclical decorations and repairs procedure says that it gives residents “at least seven days’ notice if scaffolding needs to be erected” in order to carry out works.
5. In its stage 1 response, the landlord upheld the resident’s complaint about its communication. It acknowledged the failings that she had raised and apologised. It also provided an update on the external works. This was positive.
6. However, the resident incurred frustration and inconvenience due to the landlord’s lack of communication. She also incurred time and trouble as she had to raise a complaint to receive a response from the landlord. Therefore, it would have been reasonable for the landlord to have considered compensation.
7. In addition, following the landlord’s stage 1 response, there were further communication issues relating to the resident’s stage 1 complaint concerns. The resident’s new housing officer did not email her about her concerns until 10 September 2025 and the surveyor did not contact her until 5 September 2025.
8. The landlord acknowledged the additional failings within its stage 2 response and apologised again. While noted, the apology did not go far enough to put matters right.  This is because the resident incurred additional frustration, time, trouble and inconvenience due to the further issues and having to escalate her complaint about them.
9. Given the landlord’s failings, we have ordered it to pay the resident £75 in recognition of the time, trouble and inconvenience caused. This is in line with our compensation guidance.

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.

Recommendations

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