Clarion Housing Association Limited (202121055)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202121055

Clarion Housing Association Limited

21 April 2023

 

Our approach

What we can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and is governed by the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. The Ombudsman must determine whether a complaint comes within their jurisdiction. The Ombudsman seeks to resolve disputes wherever possible but cannot investigate complaints that fall outside of this. 

In deciding whether a complaint falls within their jurisdiction, the Ombudsman will carefully consider all the evidence provided by the parties and the circumstances of the case.

The complaint

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
  2. The resident’s reports that his neighbour removed his fence without permission.
  3. The resident’s request that it take steps to confirm the boundary line between his and his neighbour’s property, and relocate the fence accordingly.
  4. The complaint through its internal complaints process.

Determination (jurisdictional decision)

  1. When a complaint is brought to the Ombudsman, we must consider all the circumstances of the case as there are sometimes reasons why a complaint will not be investigated.
  2. After carefully considering all the evidence, I have determined that the complaint, as set out above, is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Summary of events

  1. The resident is the freeholder of the property and his neighbour’s property is owned by a housing association.
  2. The documents provided to this Service indicate that the resident raised a formal with the neighbour’s landlord regarding disputes on the correct boundary between the properties, and the neighbour’s actions with respect to the resident’s boundary fence.
  3. In the neighbour’s landlord’s decision on the complaint it stated that it was satisfied with the positioning of the replacement fence panels and advised him to make a claim directly against his neighbour n his assertions of trespassing. The resident was not satisfied with this decision and maintained that the fence had not been placed on the correct boundary line. The landlord’s final decision stated that the resident was an owner-occupier and, thus, is was not for its surveyors to advise the resident’s contractors who installed the fence on the positioning of the boundary line.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 25 of the Scheme states that:

“The following people can make complaints to the Ombudsman about members: (a) a person who is or has been in a landlord/tenant relationship with a member. This includes people who have a lease, tenancy, licence to occupy, service agreement or other arrangement to occupy premises owned or managed by a member. If the complaint is made by an ex-occupier, they must have had a legal relationship with the member at the time that the matter complained of arose.”

  1. The documents provided to this Service, as stated above, indicate that the resident is the owner of the property as he holds an absolute title. As he is a freeholder, this Service is unable to investigate the resident’s complaint.
  2. This Service appreciates that this information should have been provided to the resident at the time he referred his complaint to this Service for investigation and apologises that this did not happen. It was assumed at the time that he had a leasehold agreement for the property and the neighbour’s landlord was the freeholder. Our understanding of the situation was further complicated by the fact that the neighbour’s landlord is in fact the resident’s landlord for a different property and not the one which is the subject of this complaint. The freehold situation was not discovered until the documents provided on the case began to be assessed in commencement of our investigation.
  3. The paragraph of the Scheme outlined above (paragraph 25(a)) is a mandatory ground for accepting complaints within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. In the absence of a landlord/tenant relationship, the Ombudsman lacks the mandatory complainant condition to consider the complaint. The complaint, as defined above, is therefore not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and will not be investigated here.
  4. The resident may wish to consider seeking legal advice on his possible next steps.