Brent Council (202008458)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202008458

Brent Council

15 March 2022

Our approach

The Housing Ombudsman’s approach to investigating and determining complaints is to decide what is fair in all the circumstances of the case. This is set out in the Housing Act 1996 and the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme). The Ombudsman considers the evidence and looks to see if there has been any ‘maladministration’, for example whether the landlord has failed to keep to the law, followed proper procedure, followed good practice or behaved in a reasonable and competent manner.

Both the resident and the landlord have submitted information to the Ombudsman and this has been carefully considered. Their accounts of what has happened are summarised below. This report is not an exhaustive description of all the events that have occurred in relation to this case, but an outline of the key issues as a background to the investigation’s findings.

The complaint

This complaint is about the landlord’s response to:
1. The resident’s reports of anti-social behaviour (ASB) by her neighbours.
2. The resident’s request to be rehoused.

Background and summary of events

Background

The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord, which is a local authority. The tenancy commenced on 15 April 2019. The property is a one bedroom flat.
The resident has advised this service that she moved out of the property at the end of September 2021. On 22 October 2021, the landlord issued the resident with a Notice to quit, due to non-occupancy of the property. The landlord has advised that possession proceedings are ongoing, a claim has been submitted to the court to request an eviction hearing and that they are awaiting a date for that hearing to take place.

Summary of events

On 6 June 2020, the resident contacted the landlord to ask for information about on how to terminate her tenancy due to anti-social behaviour caused by her neighbour.
On 3 July 2020, the tenant called the landlord to report an incident which took place on 28 June 2020 which the Police attended.
Between 6 July and 20 August 2020, the landlord sought to contact the resident by telephone on multiple occasions. There were issues with the landlord being unable to leave voicemails when the resident did not answer and the housing officer not always being available to take the resident’s calls. The parties were however able to speak on 7 July 2020, when the resident’s concerns were discussed, and on 13 July 2020, when the call was ended due to the resident shouting at the housing officer.
On 25 August 2020, the resident’s Housing Officer wrote to all residents of the resident’s block advising them of recent complaints regarding noise nuisance and other types of ASB and asking them to contact the Housing Manager or Noise Team if they had witnessed any ASB to the residents in their block.
On 9 September 2020, the Police emailed the landlord to confirm that the resident had reported that she had returned to her address on 28 June 2020, to collect some of her property as she was living elsewhere, and alleged that one of her neighbours assaulted her. The police apologised to the landlord for the length of time it had taken to respond and confirmed that there was no evidence to support the resident’s allegation that she was attacked. The Police explained that independent witnesses confirmed there was no assault, but there had been an argument after the resident started shouting at her neighbours and she was advised by officers to avoid any further interaction with the neighbours.
On 2 October 2020, the landlord wrote to the resident regarding a recent conversation with her on 30 September 2020. The landlord confirmed that it had undertaken ‘‘extensive’’ enquiries including writing to all residents, visiting alleged perpetrators, and liaising with the police. There was no evidence that the resident would be unsafe living at her property and that she was able to return home. That it would arrange for the resident’s Housing Officer to visit her, once she returned home, to discuss what rehousing options were available and requested that the resident contact them with a suitable date and time.
On 21 October 2020, the resident called the landlord to report that she was still having issues with her neighbour who she said was harassing her with foul language and had left urine in a bottle outside her front door.
On 6 November 2020, the resident’s Neighbourhood Manager and Housing Officer visited the resident to discuss her concerns. The landlord’s notes from the meeting record that it reiterated that it was not able to take any further action with regards to her case as there was no evidence following its liaison with the Police.
On 12 November 2020, this service wrote to the landlord following contact from the resident saying that she had had visits from her Neighbourhood Officer and Manager but she was not happy with the outcome and wanted to be moved to another property where she would feel safe. The landlord was asked to contact the resident and provide her with a written response to her complaint.
On 8 December 2020, the resident’s Housing Manager issued the landlord’s stage one response. The resident’s complaint was not upheld. In their response the Housing Manager:
1. Referred to the resident to their letter of 2 October 2020 and said that, given that no additional information or evidence had been submitted since that time, there was nothing further they could add.
2. Confirmed that further to their letter of 2 October 2020, they had visited the resident on 6 November 2020 and reiterated that in the absence of any corroborating evidence the case had been closed.
On 7 January 2021, the Head of Housing issued a further complaint response. The resident’s complaint was not upheld. The Head of Housing explaining that with the exception of when the resident initially reported her concerns and requested a call back, they had been unable to identify any unnecessary delays in responding to the resident’s requests, the resident’s reports of anti-social behaviour by her neighbours had been thoroughly investigated and there has been no evidence to support her claims.
On 10 March 2021, this service wrote to the landlord on behalf of the resident to escalate her complaint as she was not satisfied that the landlord had properly listened to her concerns about ASB and had not assisted her with rehousing.
On 18 March 2021, the Chief Executive issued the landlord’s final, review, response. The Chief Executive apologised to the resident for the initial delay in responding to her concerns. The resident’s complaint was not upheld. The Chief Executive:
1. Confirmed that the main reason it had been unable to substantiate the resident’s report of 28 June 2020 was that the Police did not support her allegations. It was noted that the resident did not agree with the Police’s position, however, that was something the resident would need to take up with the Police but as far as the landlord was concerned it was reasonable for it to rely on the information provided by them.
2. Said that it was sorry to hear that the resident did not feel comfortable living at her property. However, in order to address her concerns, it would need the resident to provide specific evidence of on-going problems that officers could investigate and if necessary raise with her neighbours. The landlord noted that the resident had not reported any further incidents of ASB since its letters of 8 December 2020 and 7 January 2021.
3. Said that, at that time, there was no evidence to suggest that the Housing Management Service would conclude that there is an urgent need to move you. However, if the resident was to engage with the Housing Management Service, officers could discuss possible rehousing options, such as a home swap, that might be available to her.
4. Acknowledged that the resident had said that she was not interested in the Council’s Adult Social Care department assessing whether there may be any support that she could be provided with, but nevertheless provided a link to their web page should the resident change her view at any time in the future.

Assessment and findings

Relevant Policies, procedures and agreements.

The landlord’s Anti-Social Behaviour Policy states that:
1. ASB officers will contact the complainant to assess the potential risk of harm caused by the ASB. If the ASB involves the use or threat of violence or there is a significant risk of harm an officer will aim to contact the complainant within 1 working day. For all other reports of ASB, an officer will aim to contact the complainant within 5 working days.
2. Unless contact or a visit has already taken place during the initial response to the incoming enquiry / referral, the investigating case officer will contact or arrange to visit the complainant/victim(s) within 10 working days of the initial response to fully explain the investigative process and manage expectations.
3. Contact or interviews will be arranged with the alleged perpetrator within 10 days. Where contact with alleged perpetrators is likely to take longer than 10 working days after the initial enquiry response, the case officer will advise the victim of the reasons for this.
4. Case officers will ensure all investigations are thorough and all avenues of potential evidence are explored to determine the most effective means to resolve complaints of ASB, including evidence from the Police and other neighbours
5. Cases can only be closed once it has been determined that the investigation has found insufficient evidence to warrant further investigation.
The landlord’s Housing Allocation policy confirms that the landlord manages housing allocations through the Council’s choice based lettings (CBL) system. The landlord’s Housing Allocation policy also states that in exceptional circumstances the landlord may offer residents an emergency management transfer. The Policy goes on to explain that most of the transfer requests that are approved relate to extremely serious incidents involving domestic abuse, intimidation and harassment, hate crime or threats to kill, and that the Allocations Panel will only approve a transfer where it is satisfied that all other ways of resolving the problem have been exhausted and that it would not be reasonable to expect the tenant to continue living in their home.

Reports of ASB

The role of the Ombudsman is to investigate the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports rather than to establish who was responsible for any anti-social behaviour. In determining whether there has been service failure or maladministration, this report has considered what the landlord was committed to do under its ASB policy and whether it behaved in a manner that was fair and reasonable in all the circumstances.
During the period covered by this report, the resident reported incidents of ASB on two occasions, 3 July and 21 October 2020.
It is also noted that prior to her report on 3 July 2020 the resident had also contacted the landlord, on 6 June 2020, to ask for information about on how to terminate her tenancy due to anti-social behaviour caused by her neighbour. No evidence has been provided of the landlord responding to the resident’s request of 6 June 2020.
With regards to the resident’s report of 3 July 2020, the resident’s housing officer attempted to contact the resident the same day and there were continued attempts at contact by both parties between 6 July and 20 August 2020. However, no detail as to what was discussed during this period has been provided by the landlord nor is there any evidence of a risk assessment being carried out, as it was required to do under its ASB policy.
There is evidence of the landlord subsequently taking some reasonable steps to investigate the resident’s concerns, including writing letters to all residents on 25 August 2020 and contacting the police. However, when asked for evidence to support its position in its letter to the resident on 2 October 2020 that it had visited the alleged perpetrator the landlord confirmed that this referred to the hand delivery of a letter dated 25 August 2020, which was delivered to all residents. It provided no further evidence of any other contact with the alleged perpetrator. There is also no evidence of the landlord seeking to visit the resident at that time.
Following contact from the landlord, the Police responded on 9 September 2020 explaining the events that occurred on 28 June 2020 and confirming that there was no evidence to support the resident’s allegations and that they would be taking no further action in relation to those allegations. As that was the case, it was reasonable and in accordance with the landlord’s policies and procedures for the landlord to close the case and to advise the resident as such.
With regards to the resident’s report of 21 October 2020, again no evidence of a risk assessment being completed has been provided. On this occasion, however, both the resident’s Neighbourhood Manager and Housing Officer did visit the resident on 6 November 2020, just over the 10 working days period stipulated in the landlord’s ASB Policy, to discuss her concerns. The landlord’s notes from the meeting state that the resident was informed that the case could not be taken any further as follow notification from the Police that there was no evidence to support the resident’s claims. However, the records provided give no information as to what was actually discussed with regards to the resident’s reports themselves, and most especially her report of 21 October 2020, which post-dated the earlier advice from the Police referred to by the landlord.
It is acknowledged that the landlord did take some reasonable steps in its response to the resident’s reports, such as contacting the Police, writing to other residents in the block and visiting the resident following her report of 21 October 2020. It has also been noted that following the visit by the resident’s Neighbourhood Manager and Housing Officer there were no further reports of ASB made by the resident.
However, only limited contemporaneous evidence has been provided by the landlord, which does not include a number of key records such as details of the telephone conversations between the resident and the landlord between 6 July and 20 August 2020, evidence of risk assessments being carried out following the resident’s reports on 3 July and 21 October 2020 or detailed information as to what was actually discussed with regards to the resident’s more recent report when the landlord visited the resident on 6 November 2020.
These omissions indicate either that the landlord failed to appropriately follow its ASB policy or poor record keeping by the landlord resulted in it not being able to provide this service with relevant evidence that it acted reasonably, or in accordance with its ASB policy, and as a result in finding of service failure has been made.

Request to be rehoused.

The landlord’s Housing Allocation policy notes that emergency management transfers are most likely to be agreed to in situations of extremely serious incidents involving domestic abuse, intimidation and harassment, hate crime or threats to kill.
Having received confirmation from the Police that there was no evidence to support the resident’s allegation that she had been attacked by her neighbour and with no other evidence to the contrary, it was reasonable and in accordance with its Housing Allocation policy for the landlord to rely on the available evidence from the Police, and to decline the resident’s request to be rehoused.
In addition to the advice from the Police, there were only two reports made by the resident in the period between June and October 2020 and, following the landlord’s visit to the resident on 6 November 2020 no further reports were made.
Whilst the landlord was unable to offer the resident a management transfer, it did acknowledge that the resident did not feel comfortable living at her property, encouraged her to provide specific evidence of any on-going problems that officers could investigate and if necessary raise with her neighbours. It also suggested that she engage with its Housing Management Service to discuss possible rehousing options, such as a home swap, that might be available to her. These were all appropriate steps to take which both recognised and sought to resolve the resident’s concerns.
In its final response, the landlord also made reference to its suggestion that the resident might wish to contact the Council’s Adult Social Care department to see if there may be any support that resident could be provided with. The landlord noted that this had been declined by the resident but nevertheless provided a link to their web page should the resident change her mind.

Determination (decision)

In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was service failure by the landlord in respect of the resident’s reports of Anti-social behaviour (ASB) by her neighbours.
In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was no maladministration by the landlord in respect of the resident’s request to be rehoused.

Reasons

Whilst the landlord did take some reasonable steps in its response to the resident’s reports, the landlord failed to provide this service with a number of key documents necessary to evidence that it acted reasonably or in accordance with its ASB policy when responding to the resident’s reports. These omissions indicate that the landlord either failed to appropriately follow its ASB policy or that poor record keeping resulted in it not being able to provide this service with the relevant information.
With regards to the resident’s request to move, as there was no evidence that the resident’s reports fell within the criteria necessary for a management transfer, it was reasonable for the landlord to decline the resident’s request. The landlord nevertheless recognised the resident’s concerns about living in her property, offering her advice with regards to reporting any potential future incidents.

Orders

That within 28 days of the date of this determination the landlord is to:
1. Apologise and pay the resident £100 for the failures identified in this report with regards to its response to her reports of ASB by her neighbours.
2. Confirm to this service that it has complied with the above order.