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Estuary Housing Association Limited (202308974)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202308974

Estuary Housing Association Limited

26 November 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

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of:
    1. communal repairs in the carpark.
    2. damage to her car.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured shorthold tenant of the landlord. The landlord is a housing association. The property is a 1-bedroom flat in a block of 24 flats. The car park is managed by the landlord and situated to the rear of the block.
  2. On 25 February 2023, the resident reported to the landlord that her car had been broken into in the car park the previous night and her car had also been damaged before Christmas. She said that tenants of the block had made several complaints about the car park gate being stuck open. She also complained that the lighting in the car park had not worked for months and that there was no CCTV in the carpark. She said that the damage had caused her distress as she could not commute to work. As a resolution, the resident wanted the landlord to pay the insurance excess which had been deducted from her car insurance claim.
  3. On 17 March 2023, the landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response. It did not uphold the complaint. It said that the most recent report about the gate prior to her car break in was on 22 August 2022. It attended on 2 September 2022 and repaired the gate. Since the break in it carried out a service of the gate on 28 February 2023 and no faults were found. It said that the most recent repair to the gate was reported on 2 March 2023 and the engineer attended on 7 March 2023 and left the gate in working order. The landlord said that it had raised an order to upgrade the car park lighting on 2 February 2023 and received the parts in early March 2023. It completed the repair to the lights on 7 March 2023. The landlord found no service failures.
  4. On 22 March 2023, the resident escalated her complaint. She said that the gate was stuck open most of the time and that it was only recently that it was closed more. The resident said that tenants of the block were sick of complaining and would reset it themselves. She would get supporting evidence from residents who had witnessed the gate stuck open since September 2022. She said that the car park lighting was not working on the date her car was broken into and that residents were tired of complaining about it.
  5. On 25 April 2023, the landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response. It did not uphold the complaint. It restated its stage 1 complaint response that there were no service failures in its handling of the car park repairs. It advised that cars are parked at the owner’s risk, and it accepted no responsibility for the safety or security of vehicles parked in the car park.
  6. When the resident brought her complaint to the Ombudsman, she remained unhappy with the landlord’s response to the complaint. She said that the car park gate was not functioning properly and had been stuck open for an extended period before her car was broken into. Furthermore, the car park lighting had not been functioning for several months before her car was broken into. As a resolution to the complaint, she wanted the landlord to pay her car insurance excess, and any damages incurred.

Events after the internal complaints process 

  1. On 4 August 2023, the resident reported ongoing frustration to the landlord with regards to the security at the car park. She said that despite repeated reports, the gate was stuck open and the lighting in the car park had not been functional for months. She reported that her car had been broken into again in the last few days and that the landlord’s lack of action had caused distress, inconvenience, loss of earnings, distress, and anxiety.

Determination (jurisdictional decision)

  1. The Ombudsman must consider all the circumstances of the case as there are sometimes reasons why a complaint will not be investigated. After careful consideration of the evidence, this complaint is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Reasons

The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of communal repairs in the carpark

  1. Paragraph 34 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme sets out what can be complained about. Paragraph 34.a states that a complaint should relate to the actions or omissions of a member which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, have affected the complainant in respect of their application for, or occupation of, property.
  2. The complaint is about the landlord’s response to reports of communal repairs in the car park. The resident’s tenancy agreement makes no provision for parking and there are no service charges attributed to parking in the communal car park. As such, the complaint does not extend to the occupation of the property set out in the tenancy agreement and is outside of our jurisdiction to investigate.

The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of damage to her car

  1. Part of the resident’s complaint concerns her request for compensation for damage to her car. The resident alleges the landlord is liable for this because it failed to secure the car park. After carefully considering all the evidence, in accordance with paragraph 42.g of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, this aspect of the complaint is outside of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction, as this service cannot determine liability or award damages, this is something only a court can do. The resident may want to seek legal advice on this issue.