Longhurst Group Limited (202015184)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202015184

Longhurst Group Limited

10 December 2021


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 concerns the landlord’s handling of the resident’s concerns about the safety of their garden.

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 an assured tenant of the landlord. The resident reported that they have lived in their property since 1998. The resident’s complaint concerns a steep drop at the bottom of their garden where the earth crumbles away, they explained that they believe this is dangerous and that the landlord should repair this.
  2. From evidence this service has seen, this service understands that the resident contacted the landlord’s Service Centre numerous times between 7 and 27 February 2019, to discuss this.
  3. The landlord inspected the resident’s garden on 12 March 2019.  Following this visit, the resident made a formal complaint to the landlord about the landlord’s communication and the state of the garden.
  4. The landlord issued a final response on 8 August 2019. The landlord acknowledged and apologised that the resident had attempted to contact the landlord on numerous occasions about the garden issues without a reply. The landlord advised it would not be feasible to raise the ground at the bottom of the garden or to provide any retaining structure. The landlord proposed it would either fence off the area in question and carry out regular weed treatment or to treat the area, lay bark and possibly install a handrail to divide the area to mark the boundary of the dropped area. The landlord advised the resident that if they remained dissatisfied, that they could refer their complaint to this service.
  5. The resident’s representative first contacted this service on 3 March 2021 and provided a copy of the landlord’s final response on 14 September 2021.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 39d of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states that…

‘The Ombudsman will not investigate complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, were brought to the Ombudsman’s attention normally more than 12 months after they exhausted the member’s complaints procedure;’

  1. The landlord issued its final response to the resident’s complaint on 8 August 2019. The resident did not refer the matter to this service until 3 March 2021 and did not provide a copy of the final response until 14 September 2021, over 2 years since the final response was issued. The Ombudsman does not consider this a reasonable amount of time to refer a complaint to this service and so it is not a matter that can be considered further.
  2. The Ombudsman understands that is likely to be a disappointing outcome for the resident. In contact with this service, the resident has made reference to visits made by the landlord in 2021. The resident may wish to raise a formal complaint with the landlord about the new issues in relation to their garden.