Hammersmith and Fulham Council (202200510)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202200510

Hammersmith and Fulham Council

31 July 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 the resident’s reports of a back surge of sewage coming up through his bath and toilet.

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 a secure tenant of the landlord.  At the time of the complaint, he occupied a basement studio flat.
  2. On 11 April 2021 the resident’s bathroom and living area in his studio flat became flooded following a backsurge of sewage from his toilet. The resident raised a complaint with the landlord on 12 April 2021.
  3. The landlord responded to the resident’s complaint on 12 May 2021, the resident was dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and asked for his complaint to be escalated.
  4. On 14 March 2022 the landlord responded to the resident’s stage two complaint. It apologised for the delays in responding to his complaint and also for delays in works being undertaken, inconvenience and poor communication. It offered the resident £500 in compensation.
  5. On 4 April 2022 the resident contacted this Service to advise that he was dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and he would like the Ombudsman to proceed with an investigation. The resident has since been rehoused by his landlord.
  6. The resident, through his solicitors, has since issued proceedings in the county court against his landlord which relates to the disrepair in his former property.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 42(g) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states that the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, concern matters where a complainant has raised, or had the opportunity to raise, the subject matter of the complaint as part of legal proceedings.
  2. As the resident’s complaint is now the subject of legal proceedings, the Ombudsman is not able to investigate the complaint. This is because the court will be making a decision on the matter and it would not be fair or proportionate for the Ombudsman to consider this matter separately.
  3. In this case, the Ombudsman is satisfied that the resident had the opportunity to raise his complaint about this issue as part of the court proceedings.