London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (202404505)

Background

1. The resident had a joint tenancy with his ex-partner who sent the landlord a notice to end the tenancy (notice to quit) on 19 February 2024 which it accepted. Following this the landlord obtained a court order to recover possession of the property (possession order) which the resident appealed. The resident complained about the landlord’s response to the notice to quit including its communication and decision to accept the notice.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the notice to quit.

Our decision (determination)

3. We have found the complaint is outside our jurisdiction. As a result, we have not investigated it.

Reasons

4. We are not free to investigate all complaints referred to us. What we can and cannot consider is set out in the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme). The Scheme says we cannot consider complaints which are subject to legal proceedings or where matters at court are connected so closely to the complaint, they cannot be separated. In this case, we can see legal proceedings were issued at court on 21 June 2024. This resulted in the court making a possession order dated 15 November 2024. The resident successfully got the court’s permission to appeal this in ongoing legal proceedings.
5. The matters at court, referred to in the resident’s grounds of appeal, relate to the landlord’s response to the notice to quit. This includes its communication with the resident and its decision to accept the notice to quit. As these are substantially the same as the complaint the resident referred to us, we have no power to investigate the complaint.