Citizen Housing Group Limited (202522330)

Decision
Case ID	202522330
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	Citizen Housing Group Limited
Landlord type	Housing Association
Occupancy	Assured Tenancy
Date	23 January 2026

Background

The resident experienced breakdowns of the communal lift serving her property during 2025. She expressed dissatisfaction at the landlord’s handling of repairs to the lift and its refusal to offer alternative accommodation. The resident told her landlord she has a back condition. The lift has continued to get stuck following the landlord’s closure of the resident’s complaint.

What the complaint is about

The complaint is about:
1. The landlord’s handling of communal lift repairs.
2. We have also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Our decision (determination)

We have found:
1. There was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of communal lift repairs.
2. There was no maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

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

Summary of reasons

The landlord’s handling of communal lift repairs

The landlord failed to complete several repairs in line with its repairs and maintenance policy. It did not update the resident between 24 July 2025 and 5 August 2025 and provided conflicting reasons for refusing temporary accommodation. It did not offer any compensation for these failures.

The landlord’s complaint handling

The landlord responded to the resident’s complaint at stage 1 of its complaint process in line with its complaint’s policy. Although there was a 3 working day delay in it responding at stage 2 of its complaint process this was very minor and caused no detriment to the resident.

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	Inspection order The landlord must arrange a lift inspection. It must take all reasonable steps to ensure the inspection is completed by the due date. The inspection must be completed by an externally appointed independent surveyor with expertise to complete the type of inspection required. What the inspection must achieve The landlord must ensure that the surveyor: Inspects the lift and produces a written report with photographs in line with the landlord’s lifts management policy The survey report must set out: The most likely cause of the lift breakdowns Whether the landlord is responsible to repair or resolve the issue together with reasons where it is not responsible A full scope of works to achieve a lasting and effective resolution to the issue (if the landlord is responsible) including if a new lift is likely to be needed The likely timescales to commence and complete the work	No later than 20 February 2026
2	Temporary accommodation Following receipt of the surveyor’s report the landlord must write to the resident with a copy of the report and confirmation of whether or not it is necessary to offer temporary accommodation to her.	No later than 20 February 2026
3	Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident £250 to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its failures in handling the communal lift repairs. This must be paid directly to the resident by the due date. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of payment by the due date.	No later than 20 February 2026

Recommendations

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

Our recommendations
The landlord should consider providing training to its staff on the proper implementation of its non-statutory(discretionary) compensation framework and monitor the payments it makes under this.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
4 July 2025	The resident complained to the landlord that the communal lift was not working and said this added to her difficulty as she had a back problem and school children. She also said the landlord had refused her request for temporary accommodation.
4 July 2025	The landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint at stage 1 of its complaint process.
15 July 2025	The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response and said: It accepted the lift was out of service for an extended period Its usual contractor had been unable to fix it but had taken away a broken part to see if this could be fixed It agreed to provide the resident with an update towards the end of the week It had asked another contractor to assess the situation, and this contractor had ordered a part, and it hoped it could repair the lift within a fortnight It agreed to contact the resident about her request for alternative accommodation to assess this based on the resident’s needs and the repair timeframe The resident could contact the neighbourhood officer to obtain advice about rehousing It apologised for the inconvenience caused by the lift breakdown and agreed to keep the resident informed of any progress
24 July 2025	The resident escalated her complaint and complained the landlord had not repaired the lift, despite the landlord sending her a text to say it would repair this by 24 July 2025.
29 July 2025	The landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint at stage 2 of its complaint process.
27 August 2025	The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response setting out a timeline of events between 18 June 2025 and 15 August 2025 and said: It apologised for the length of time the lift was out of service and the impact this had It was unable to offer alternative accommodation because of the availability of suitable alternative accommodation It was working with its contractor to keep lift disruptions to a minimum It agreed to implement a comprehensive contingency plan to help vulnerable residents during extended lift disruptions The resident could contact its insurers if she wished to make a personal injury claim
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident said that she had not received any compensation from the landlord and that the lift continued to break down, including as recently as January 2026 when she told us the fire service had to rescue her. She wants us to investigate the landlord’s handling of the communal lift repairs and wants compensation.

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 communal lift repairs
Finding	Maladministration

What we have not investigated

The resident told us that loss of use of the communal lift and having to use the stairs to get to and from her flat worsened her medical condition and affected her mental health. It would be fairer, more reasonable, and more effective for the resident to make a personal injury claim for any injury caused. The courts are best placed to deal with this type of dispute as they will have the benefit of independent medical advice to decide on the cause of any injury and how long it will last. We’ve not investigated this further. We can decide if a landlord should pay compensation for distress and inconvenience.

What we have investigated

We have considered the landlord’s handling of the communal lift repairs up to its final complaint response on 27 August 2025. Under the resident’s tenancy agreement, the landlord was responsible for the maintenance of the lift. Its repairs and maintenance policy states it had to complete repairs within published timescales on its website. The landlord’s website stated it would attend emergency repairs within 24 hours and other repairs within 25 working days.
The landlord met the policy repair timescales for repairs which it raised on the following days:
1. 9 April 2025 (completed 14 April 2025, 3 working days).
2. 6 May 2025(completed 12 May 2025,4 working days).
3. 22 May 2025 (completed 23 May 2025, 24 hours).
4. 27 May 2025 (completed 28 May 2025, 24 hours).
In contrast we found the landlord failed to complete the following lift repairs in line with its policy timescales:
1. Job to repair the car floor, resecure the control panel, and repair the counterweights, car call button, alarm, lower portion of guide rails, and lower ultimate lift switch. The landlord raised this on 31 January 2025 but completed the job on 14 April 2025, it took the landlord 51 working days to complete this.
2. A job to install a new car flooring, raised on 25 March 2025 but completed on 7 May 2025, 28 working days.
3. A job to replace the lift alarm and battery, raised on 6 May 2025 but completed on 19 June 2025, 31 working days.
4. A job to “replace 2x HBB boards and replace PCB line”, raised on 29 May 2025 but completed on 15 August 2025, 56 working days.
The landlord responded to a report of the communal lift getting stuck on 18 June 2025 and it reasonably attended on the same day and on the next day. However, it concluded the fault still existed on 25 June 2025 after it replaced a part. It said that it needed a “whole new kit to be replaced”. The landlord raised a job on 27 June 2025 to supply and install a lift “door operator modification kit” and completed a partial repair on 5 August 2025. It accepted that the lift was out of service between 18 June 2025 and 5 August 2025 (48 days), after which time it programmed the lift to stop at 3 floors until a full repair was completed on 15 August 2025.
Lift repairs can be complex and may require additional time to complete. The landlord explained the delays on account of one contractor having had difficulties in completing the repair and another having to order a part from China. While the part the landlord fitted on 24 July 2025 did not resolve the repair it is unclear from the records why the landlord was unable to resolve this until 5 August 2025. The landlord also failed to show it kept the resident fully updated during this period. We cannot be satisfied the landlord acted reasonably to resolve the repair as quickly as possible in the absence of detailed reports from its contractors.
The landlord was aware on 4 July 2025 of the resident’s back condition and by mid July 2025 it had received the resident’s request for temporary accommodation. The landlord was under no duty to offer the resident temporary accommodation. However, it needed to consider if it was reasonable for the resident to remain at the property while lift repair work was pending in line with its decant procedure. There was a delay between 15 July 2025 and 26 August 2025 in it doing so due to confusion over its procedure.
The vulnerability information the landlord provided us with as part of the investigation did not note the resident’s back condition. Its internal notes suggest it refused temporary accommodation because it assessed the resident’s mobility as being limited but that she could use the stairs. However, this differed from the reason it gave her for refusing the request for temporary accommodation in its stage 2 complaint response, where it said this was due to other residents in the block also experiencing mobility challenges, and the availability of suitable properties. Under these circumstances we cannot be satisfied with the landlord’s explanation, communication with the resident, or what steps it took to assess her mobility.
The landlord apologised for the delays in the communal lift repairs. It also explained to the resident that it planned to introduce contingency plans in future to help residents in her situation where there is extended lift disruption. These actions were in line with our dispute resolution principles; act fairly and learn from outcomes. As the delay in repairs likely caused the resident distress and inconvenience it would have been reasonable of the landlord to have offered her compensation for this.
Under its non-statutory(discretionary) compensation framework the landlord could offer compensation, and this would have been in line with our dispute resolution principle; put things right. We have ordered the landlord to pay the resident £250 compensation. Our remedies guidance allows for payments of this amount where a landlord’s failures have adversely affected the resident.
The lift became stuck several times and has continued to breakdown following the landlord’s closure of the resident’s complaint. While reactive repairs are normally appropriate, where there is a history of breakdowns in short succession, as is the case here, we would expect landlords to consider if there are any underlying issues through a more extensive assessment. We have made an order for an independent lift inspection as the landlord has not obtained a detailed report on this when it would have been reasonable to do so, given the frequency of breakdowns.

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	No maladministration

The landlord’s complaint policy at the time of the complaint complies with the definition of a complaint in our Complaint Handling Code (April 2024), referred to as the Code. The timescales in the landlord’s complaint procedure complied with the Code.
The landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint and provided its response at stage 1 of its complaint process in line with its policy. It took it 23 working days to provide its stage 2 complaint response (27 August 2025), against a target of 20 working days from the date of escalation (24 July 2025). This was a very minor failing which caused no detriment to the resident. While we have found no maladministration, we have made a recommendation as the landlord ought to have considered compensation for the substantive complaint.

Learning

The landlord’s communication over the reason for the delays in lift repairs was lacking and fell short of the expectations where landlords are required to complete complex repairs. Our learning from severe maladministration report (March 2025) offers good practice in dealing with lift repairs, pages 31 to 32. Recommendations 6 and 11 of our spotlight report on knowledge and information management (May 2023) aims to help landlords to record vulnerabilities accurately.

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

The landlord’s record keeping was overall good. However, its records were unclear on the reason for the delay in completing a partial repair between 24 July 2025 and 5 August 2025. It also failed to record the resident’s vulnerabilities.

Communication

The landlord could have had better communication with the resident over the reason for the delays in lift repairs and regarding her request for temporary accommodation.