Clarion Housing Association Limited (202320850)

Background

1. The resident requested a breakdown of her service charge costs so that she could establish whether she was paying the correct amount. As she did not receive the information she requested, she raised complaints at both stages and subsequently brought her complaint to us for investigation.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s queries about her service charge, specifically a request for a breakdown of the costs.

Our decision (determination)

3. The landlord has made an offer of redress following our intervention which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint satisfactorily.

We have recommended that the landlord honour the intervention agreed to put things right.

Summary of reasons

4. During its complaints process, the landlord confirmed that it received the resident’s request for a breakdown of charges and passed this on to its service charges team. It explained that it had received a high volume of enquiries and so its service charges team had been unable to respond. It apologised for the inconvenience caused, confirmed the resident’s apportionment of the service charge, provided a breakdown and a site map which showed the properties liable for the service charges. It also offered the resident £150 compensation.
5. The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2. She requested a breakdown of the service costs for other years, complained that the site map was unclear, and she wanted more detailed information about the works carried out by contractors.
6. Since raising the complaint with the Ombudsman, the resident has confirmed that the landlord has now provided the information she was seeking. However, she is concerned that the landlord will not continue to provide this information each year. To resolve matters, she sought an apology and assurances that the landlord intended to provide a breakdown of costs that make up her service charge.
7. The landlord has provided a copy of the information it shared in September 2025, and the resident confirmed that this was the level of information she had requested previously. It confirmed that if the resident required more detailed information, she would need to submit a section 22 request following its annual ‘Actual Service Charges’ letter in September each year.
8. The Ombudsman contacted the landlord and provided it with a summary of events. Following our intervention, the landlord agreed to apologise and to continue to provide the resident with breakdowns of the costs that make up her service charge.
9. Therefore, subject to the landlord apologising and providing an assurance that it intends to continue provide the resident with breakdowns of the service charge costs each year, this case will be closed.

Putting things right

Recommendations

The complaint has been resolved with intervention on the basis that the landlord follows our recommendations within 4 weeks of the date of this decision.