Clarion Housing Association Limited (202211561)
REPORT
COMPLAINT 202211561
Clarion Housing Association Limited
12 September 2024
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 handling of the resident’s reports of antisocial behaviour.
Background and summary of events
- The resident is a shared-ownership leaseholder. The landlord is the freeholder.
- In the first half of 2021 the resident reported several times to the landlord problems she was having with a neighbour. The problems centred on the neighbour placing her rubbish bins in front of, or very close to the resident’s front door, rather than closer to the neighbour’s own home. She said the issue had led to altercations and disputes with the neighbour, including an occasion when the resident said she had been verbally assaulted. She provided photos and audio recordings as evidence of what had been happening.
- The landlord investigated the resident’s reports. Amongst other things, it created an action plan with the resident, liaised with the police, asked the resident to document further incidents, and spoke with both the resident and the neighbour. It gave the neighbour a formal warning about her behaviour with the bins, and about the verbal incident. The landlord wrote to the resident on 25 August 2021 explaining its actions, and that the neighbour had agreed to keep her bins away from the front of the resident’s home. It said it would close the case, but if the resident experienced further issues she should report them. The landlord would then consider further action if necessary. The resident has told the Service that she did not receive this letter.
- In December 2021 the resident asked the landlord for an update about the ASB case.
- In early January 2022 the resident complained to the landlord. She said she had provided further evidence in October 2021 of the neighbour repeating her previous behaviour with the bins. She said she had received an acknowledgement of her evidence, and an ASB case number, but had not received further updates or information. She said she had followed up the matter with the landlord in December, and it had then sent an officer to inspect the situation. However, the officer had not been aware of the case history.
- Not receiving a response to or acknowledgement of her complaint, the resident followed it with a further complaint in February 2022.
- The landlord responded to the complaint on 1 March 2022. It acknowledged the resident’s concerns about the neighbour’s placement of the bins, including her concern that they were blocking access to the main gates. It said it had opened an ASB case for the verbal abuse issue and would contact the resident separately about that. It had instructed the neighbour to place her bins in the correct location, and if she did not comply it would take action to resolve the issue. It also referred to a separate tenancy breach case. It said the relevant tenants were not engaging with it and the next course of action was legal proceedings (it is not clear from the response what this tenancy breach was, or how it related to the resident’s ASB reports about the bins).
- The resident escalated her complaint in March 2022. She explained the history of her 2021 ASB reports about the bins and the verbal abuse incident. She complained that despite the landlord’s efforts the bins were still being placed too close to her home. She wanted the landlord to review the information she had previously provided, sought compensation for the distress and frustration caused to her, and for the issue to be resolved.
- The landlord sent its final complaint response in May 2022. It explained it had further reviewed the resident’s reports. It acknowledged the ASB case for which she had provided evidence in October 2021 had been incorrectly closed with no action taken. It said it had created a new case when the resident chased the matter in December 2021. That case had been “worked in line with our procedure” for a tenancy breach and passed to its legal department. The legal department had concluded there were insufficient grounds for legal action. Because of that the landlord was instead preparing to issue a ‘tort notice’ for the bins (a legal notice notifying an owner that their items are inappropriately placed and must be removed. Otherwise, they will be removed by the landlord).
- The landlord also explained that in its first response it had mistakenly thought the resident’s references to verbal abuse by the neighbour was a recent event, which is why it had said it would open a new ASB case. It now understood the resident had been referring to the incident in 2021. It explained the actions it had taken in response to her 2021 reports, up to closing the case in August. It concluded it had dealt with the matter appropriately. The landlord acknowledged its complaint responses had been delayed. It apologised for that, and for the other failings it had found. It offered the resident £275 compensation, and explained how she could bring her complaint to the Ombudsman if she remained dissatisfied.
Assessment and findings
Investigation scope
- The resident continued to report similar disputes and ASB from her neighbour following the landlord’s final complaint response in 2022. In 2023 she made a new complaint to the landlord about its handling of her reports.
- Ombudsman investigations centre on specific complaints investigated by a landlord. Each complaint is assessed on its own merits and facts. This investigation considers the resident’s complaint to the landlord in early 2022, and its responses. If the resident has exhausted the landlord’s complaint process for her 2023 complaint, she has the opportunity to ask the Ombudsman to investigate that complaint too. Such an investigation would be separate to this one.
- While investigations are treated separately, previous investigations can also be taken into consideration when identifying any relevant themes or wider issues. A recommendation for the landlord is made below in relation to this.
The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of antisocial behaviour
- The landlord has an ASB policy (the policy). It defines ASB several ways, including conduct potentially causing nuisance or annoyance to a person in relation to their occupation of their home.
- The policy includes harassment, such as verbal abuse. It states that this is usually a criminal offence, for which the police have responsibility. The landlord will consider taking formal tenancy enforcement action if it receives evidence obtained by the police, or on a conviction.
- The policy sets out what the landlord does not consider to be ASB. This can include “different lifestyles or every-day living situations which are not intended to cause nuisance or annoyance”. However, it also acknowledges that “low level and repeated incidents treated in isolation which may not appear serious or even as ASB, may be having a serious impact on the victim’s life.” In such situations it will potentially investigate the problem as an ASB issue.
- In dealing with ASB, the policy explains the landlord will utilise a range of resolution tools, including acceptable behaviour contracts, tenancy support, and warning letters. It will also work with other organisations and agencies, such as the police and local authorities, and participates in community trigger reviews where relevant.
- The resident’s original reports to the landlord related to the neighbour’s placement of rubbish bins close to the resident’s front door. Nothing in the evidence suggests there were specific designated locations for the bins at the time, and the area where they were being placed was communal. On the face of it, the issue had the appearance of being a neighbour dispute related to an “every-day living situation”, which the policy suggested was not usually considered ASB. However, the resident had also explained the distress the issue was causing her, and the escalation caused by the verbal abuse incident meant it was reasonable and appropriate for the landlord to treat the overall issue as ASB, which was also in line with its policy.
- It demonstrated it had done this by opening an ASB case, visiting the resident, liaising with the police about the verbal abuse, creating an action plan with the resident, and explaining how she could obtain evidence of any further incidents. It experienced challenges reaching the neighbour to discuss the allegations, but persevered in its efforts to make contact and was eventually successful. The evidence shows the neighbour confirmed the allegations, provided her own account of events, and agreed to keep the bins closer to her own home and not interact with the resident. These actions by the landlord were in line with its policy, and with basic practice for landlord’s dealing with ASB.
- Based on the evidence it had, the landlord concluded in August 2021 that a resolution had been achieved. It wrote to the neighbour confirming what they had discussed and warning her about her actions potentially breaching the terms of her tenancy. It wrote to the resident confirming what actions it had taken and the neighbour’s commitments, and explained it was closing the ASB case. It set out what the resident should do if problems reoccurred. There is no evidence of the police taking specific action about the verbal abuse, and there had not been a repeat of it, or other similarly serious incidents. Given the neighbour’s acknowledgement of her actions and commitment to not repeat the behaviour,, the landlord’s decision to close the case at that time was reasonable.
- The resident has explained she did not receive the landlord’s case closure letter. Nothing in the evidence suggests why that might be. In any case, she reported further issues with the bins to the landlord, which is the same course of action explained in its closure letter, so the impact of not receiving the letter was limited. Evidence of those reports has not been seen. However, it appears undisputed that she did so, and the landlord asked her to provide supporting information in October 2021. She did that, and then in December she chased up the landlord’s lack of a further response. The landlord subsequently identified it had closed the case in error, only discovering the mistake when the resident chased a response.
- It was reasonable for the landlord to acknowledge and apologise for its failure to act in response to the resident’s new reports. However, no evidence has been seen of it explaining the situation to the resident at the time it realised the mistake in December 2021. It only did so following her escalated complaint in 2022.
- After the landlord opened a new ASB case in December 2021 there is no evidence of it taking similar steps to those it had taken earlier in the year, such as meeting the resident, discussing the new allegations with the neighbour, or creating an action plan. The resident explained in her complaint to the landlord that one of its officers had attended in December and again in January 2022, but that had been only to inspect the bins’ location, and the resident has said the officer was unaware of the problem’s history. These actions, or similar ones, were relevant elements of an ASB investigation. It is not apparent from the evidence why they were not taken, or why the connection with the earlier case appears to have not been identified.
- The resident had not reported a reoccurrence of the earlier verbal abuse. The new reports centred on the bins. The seriousness of the situation was therefore arguably not as great as it had previously been. Nonetheless, it was still causing distress to the resident, and the landlord thought it significant enough to seek input from its legal team. It said in its first complaint response that its legal team had decided formal action about the bins would not likely be successful. This action does not appear to have been explained to the resident until she complained. There is also no indication of the landlord explaining why or how its legal team had reached its decision, and until the complaint response, no apparent explanation to the resident about the new course of action the landlord had decided to take.
- In these circumstances, the landlord’s communication with the resident following her new reports was not reasonable, or in line with basic practice. Rather than proactively receive information from the landlord about its intentions and the outcomes of its actions, the resident needed to make a complaint before she was given the information she should have received as part of the landlord’s handling of her reports.
- In her escalated complaint, in March 2022, the resident reported new issues about dog fouling, which she believed was connected with the neighbour. No evidence of this being reported previously has been seen in this investigation, and it was not part of the ASB reports the resident said she had been making in October 2021. In its response the landlord explained the actions it was taking to investigate the matter. As the issue appears to have been reported as part of the resident’s overall complaint, it was reasonable for the landlord to treat it as such (a report rather than a complaint) and handle it in line with its relevant processes.
- The landlord acknowledged some of its poor handling. This included incorrectly closing the new case it had opened following the resident’s further reports, misunderstanding when the verbal abuse incident had occurred, and delay issuing its complaint responses. It apologised and offered a total of £275 compensation. However, other aspects of its handling were also poor, as identified in this report, and were not acknowledged by the landlord. Because of that, the remedies it provided were not sufficient for it to have reasonably resolved the complaint.
Determination (decision)
- In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in respect of the complaint.
Reasons
- The landlord handled the resident’s original ASB reports well, in line with its policy and good practice. However, following the resident’s further reports in October 2021 it failed to take reasonable steps to investigate them, and its communication with the resident was poor. Its complaint investigation acknowledged some of its failings, but further poor service has been found in this investigation which remains unremedied.
Order
- In light of the frustration and inconvenience caused to the resident from the failings found in this report, the landlord is ordered to pay her compensation of £525. This amount is inclusive of the £275 previously offered.
- Payment must be made within 4 weeks of this report, and evidence provided to the Service.
Recommendation
- The resident made a new complaint to the landlord in 2023, apparently about its handling of further ASB reports she made. That complaint has not yet been brought to the Ombudsman. It is not clear if it has completed the landlord’s complaint process, but the resident has told the Service she remains dissatisfied with the landlord’s actions. In that circumstance, the landlord may wish to consider the findings made here and compare them with its handling of the 2023 reports and its responses to the more recent complaint. If any similarities are identified, it has the opportunity to proactively address them, and potentially resolve any remaining concerns the resident may have.
- It may be that the 2023 complaint has already exhausted the landlord’s complaints process. The Ombudsman would not consider a further review by the landlord unreasonable, provided it had the intention of taking into consideration the outcome of this investigation, was done speedily, and had the resident’s agreement.
- Ombudsman’s recommendations are not orders. It is for the landlord to decide whether to act on a recommendation, or not.