Citizen Housing Group Limited (202337060)

Background

1. The resident lives in a block of flats which has a communal hallway. He complained to his landlord because cigarette smoke from other flats entered his property. He said this was because there was a lack of ventilation in the communal space. He said he wanted the landlord to install some ventilation or extractor fans in the hallway to remove the smoke.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s request for ventilation in the communal area.
3. We have also assessed the landlord’s response to the resident’s complaint.

Our decision (determination)

4. We found that there was:
   1. No maladministration in the landlord’s response to the resident’s request for ventilation in the communal area.
   2. Service failure in the landlord’s response to the resident’s complaint.

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

Summary of reasons

5. The landlord responded reasonably to the resident’s request for ventilation and explained it was not legally obliged to install ventilation in the communal area.
6. It said it would investigate why smoke was entering the resident’s flat and acted reasonably by offering to communicate with other residents to remind them not to smoke in the communal spaces.
7. There was a delay in the landlord logging the resident’s complaint at stage 1, and it failed to acknowledge this during the complaint procedure.

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.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

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.

8. Some of the evidence we have received relates to events that took place after the landlord sent its final complaint response on 19 January 2024. A key part of our role is to assess the landlord’s response to a complaint and therefore it is important that the landlord has had an opportunity to consider all the information we are investigating as part of its complaint response. In this case, we consider it is fair and reasonable to only investigate matters up to the date of the final response.
9. The landlord has an estate management policy that sets out its obligations and responsibilities regarding communal areas. The policy confirms that the landlord is responsible for repairing and maintaining these areas. It also states that a planned maintenance programme is in place to keep communal spaces in good condition and compliant with housing quality standards. In addition, the landlord commits to undertaking quarterly block inspections to ensure that services are delivered appropriately.
10. In its stage 1 response on 18 December 2023, the landlord explained that it could not install ventilation in the communal area. It did not provide an explanation for this decision, which would have been helpful to give the resident context. The landlord said it would write to all residents in the block reminding them not to smoke in the communal hallway. While this was a reasonable action to take, the resident had explained that this was caused by residents smoking inside their own homes, suggesting that the landlord had not understood all of his concerns.
11. In its stage 2 response the landlord explained that it had no legal requirement to install ventilation in the communal area beyond maintaining the property in a reasonable condition. It said, therefore it would not install ventilation, but offered to investigate the issue further to minimise the impact on the resident and his partner. It said it would arrange a home visit to assess the issue, establish where the smoke was coming from and understand how it was entering the resident’s property.
12. This was a reasonable step to take to ensure that there were no structural defects (for which it would be responsible) causing smoke to enter the property. We have therefore made a finding of no maladministration because the landlord responded reasonably to the resident’s concerns.
13. However, we have not seen the outcome of the landlord’s further investigations. While this falls outside the scope of this investigation (as this action took place after the stage 2 response), we have made a recommendation for the landlord to write to the resident  setting out the findings of its inspection, particularly in relation to if any defects were identified that were allowing smoke to enter the property (such as poor seals, gaps). If any defects were found the landlord should also set out the timescales to rectify them.

14. The landlord’s complaint policy says that when a complaint is made, it will:
    1. Acknowledge and log it as a stage 1 complaint within 5 days of receipt.
    2. Respond at stage 1 within 10 working days of it being logged.
    3. Respond at stage 2 within 20 working days of escalation.
15. On 1 November 2023 the resident complained to the landlord about the lack of ventilation in the communal hallway. He explained the impact that this was having on him and his partner and asked the landlord to take action to rectify this. On 3 November 2023 the landlord responded advising him that it would escalate his complaint to stage 2. However, the record provided by the landlord shows that the complaint it escalated at that time related to a different matter altogether. The complaint about ventilation was not formally logged until 4 December 2023, after the resident chased for an update. The landlord then issued its stage 1 response on 18 December 2023, 10 working days after logging the complaint.
16. The resident’s previous complaint was not related to the substantive issue that he brought to the landlord on 1 November 2023. Furthermore, this issue was not addressed in the stage 2 review that the landlord escalated at that time. The landlord should have treated this as a brand-new complaint and logged this within 5 working days in line with its policy. By failing to do this, the landlord delayed responding to the complaint by 1 month which was inappropriate.
17. The resident requested a stage 2 complaint on 18 December 2023 and the landlord appropriately acknowledged this the next day. It responded to the resident on 19 January 2024 which was within its required timescale. In that response, the landlord acknowledged the resident’s view that the landlord had misinterpreted his initial complaint and accepted that this misunderstanding reflected in the outcome of the stage 1 complaint. It apologised for the error and confirmed it would take learning from the case to improve its understanding of complaints. It did not award financial compensation, which was proportionate given that the failure was minor. Our understanding is that the resident did raise smoking in the communal area as part of his complaint and therefore it was reasonable for the landlord to respond to it.
18. In summary, the landlord delayed in formally logging the complaint, which resulted in a late response. Whilst the delay was inconvenient for the resident, it would not have changed the overall outcome. As a result, we have made a finding of service failure and ordered the landlord to pay the resident £50 compensation. This is in line with our guidance remedies for a failure that did not significantly affect the overall outcome for the resident.

Learning

19. The landlord identified learning for its complaints team to ensure that the substantial issue is addressed when investigating a complaint.

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

20. The landlord should review expressions of dissatisfaction from residents and raise new complaints if a resident brings new issues that have not been addressed in a previous investigation.

Communication

21. The communication with the resident was appropriate.