Citizen Housing Group Limited (202407648)

Decision
Case ID	202407648
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	Citizen Housing Group Limited
Landlord type	Housing Association
Occupancy	Assured Tenancy
Date	26 June 2026

Background

1. The resident communicated with the landlord in 2019 about a bathroom upgrade survey. The survey was not completed due to access issues. The resident complained to the landlord in 2024. She said she had been waiting for a bathroom upgrade since 2019.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s concerns about a bathroom upgrade.
3. We have also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Our decision (determination)

4. We have found service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
   1. Concerns about a bathroom upgrade.
   2. Complaint.

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

Summary of reasons

Bathroom upgrade

5. The landlord acknowledged and apologised for failings in its communication with the resident about the bathroom upgrade following its stage 1 complaint response. It also identified appropriate learning from this. But it should have considered an award of compensation given it took 10 weeks to confirm its position on the bathroom upgrade.

The complaint

6. The landlord delayed escalating the complaint and did not apologise for this. Further, it did not identify all action to remedy its earlier communication failings.

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 24 July 2026
2	Compensation order   The landlord must pay the resident £50 for the distress and inconvenience caused by failings in its handling of her concerns about a bathroom upgrade. This must be paid directly to the resident by the due date. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of payment by the due date. The landlord may deduct from the total figure any payments it has already paid in respect of compensation during the complaint procedure.	No later than 24 July 2026

 

Recommendations

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

Our recommendations
We recommend that the landlord contact the resident so it can log and consider, under its internal complaints procedure, her concerns about its plans to photograph any bathroom upgrade work.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
29 January 2024	The resident complained to the landlord that she had been waiting since 2019 for it to upgrade her bathroom.
13 February 2024	The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response. It said it had previously attempted access for a bathroom survey twice in 2019. It said that due to this, it had removed the bathroom from the programme at that time. It said it had now asked its asset management team to contact the resident to advise when the bathroom would be upgraded.
14 March 2024	We wrote to the landlord about the resident’s ongoing concerns about the bathroom upgrade.
27 March 2024	The landlord escalated the resident’s complaint.
25 April 2024	The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response. It said it was sorry the resident had not had a response to her enquiry about her bathroom upgrade. It said the resident’s bathroom would be included in the upgrade programme that ran until April 2025.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident referred her complaint to us as she remained unhappy with the landlord’s response to her complaint. She wanted compensation and her bathroom upgraded.

 

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 handling of the resident’s concerns about a bathroom upgrade
Finding	Service failure

What we have not investigated

7. The resident’s bathroom upgrade has not proceeded due to her concerns that the landlord plans to photograph work completed. We have no power to investigate complaints which the landlord has not had the chance to put right first. There is no evidence the resident’s concerns about the landlord’s plans to photograph any bathroom upgrade work has exhausted its internal complaints procedure. Therefore, we have no power to investigate this.
8. We have recommended that the landlord contact the resident so that it can log and consider any ongoing concerns she has about this as a formal complaint. Should the resident remain unhappy once she has exhausted the landlord’s complaints process, she may refer the matter to us.

What we have investigated

9. The landlord attempted to access the resident’s property in 2019 to complete a survey for a new bathroom. Records showed an upgrade was not due until 2042. It is unclear why it was considering a bathroom upgrade at that time. In February 2024, the landlord explained to the resident that it removed her from the 2019 upgrade programme due to lack of access. It later revised the bathroom upgrade date for the resident’s property to 2028.
10. In January 2024, the resident said she had repeatedly asked about a bathroom upgrade since 2019. Records show the landlord told her in May 2023 that the upgrade was now due in 2028. We have seen no evidence it had identified the bathroom needed to be upgraded earlier than this.
11. On 13 February 2024, following her complaint, the landlord told the resident that its asset management team would contact her to confirm the position with a bathroom upgrade. But it gave no timescale and took no action to do this until 25 April 2024. At this time, it provided its stage 2 complaint response and confirmed she had been added to a bathroom upgrade programme running to April 2025.
12. The landlord apologised that the resident had not received a response about her bathroom upgrade since she enquired in 2019 or since its stage 1 complaint response. It identified learning and feedback it would provide to relevant teams in respect of this. This was appropriate. But it should also have considered compensation given it had taken more than 10 weeks to confirm the position with the bathroom upgrade following the stage 1 response. Had it done so earlier it could have avoided the resident having to escalate her concerns. Overall, we have found service failure in its handling. We have ordered that it make an award to the resident of £50 in recognition of the distress and inconvenience caused by its delayed communication. This is in line with the range set out in our compensation guidance.
13. The landlord contacted the resident in January 2025 to arrange a bathroom survey. This work has not progressed as the resident has concerns about the landlord’s plan to photograph completed work. As noted above, we have recommended that the landlord address these concerns through its complaints process in the first instance.

 

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	Service failure

14. Our Complaint Handling Code (the Code) sets out when and how the landlord should respond to complaints. We have found that the landlord’s complaints policy was in line with the Code from this time in respect of timescales and definition of a complaint.
15. While the stage 1 response was timely, the landlord delayed escalating the complaint after our contact on 14 March 2024. It only confirmed escalation on 27 March 2024. That was 9 working days after receipt. It should have apologised for the delay. That it did not do so was a complaint handling failing.
16. As outlined earlier, the landlord delayed communicating its position on the bathroom upgrade after its stage 1 complaint response. It should have considered compensation at stage 2 to remedy the impact of this failing. We have ordered an appropriate award for this under our consideration of the resident’s concerns about the bathroom upgrade.
17. Overall, we have found service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling. We have ordered that it apologise to the resident for the complaint handling failings we have identified. This is in line with the range of remedies set out in our compensation guidance for failings that have had a low impact.

Learning

18. The landlord should make appropriate reference to its compensation framework when considering remedies for failings.
19. The landlord should apologise when it delays logging or escalating complaints.

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

20. The landlord’s record keeping was satisfactory in this case.

Communication

21. The landlord acknowledged that it had delayed communicating with the resident about its position on a bathroom upgrade following its stage 1 complaint response. But it should also have considered a compensation award for this.