Mosscare St. Vincent’s Housing Group Limited (202310003)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202310003

Mosscare St. Vincent’s Housing Group Limited

30 May 2025

 

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 antisocial behaviour (ASB).

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. On 16 May 2023 the resident reported that neighbours were smoking in communal areas and behaving aggressively towards her. She made a complaint on 2 June 2023 as she felt the landlord had not taken her reports seriously. The landlord responded on 30 June 2023 to say it did not uphold her complaint as it had seen no evidence of ASB towards her. It agreed to remind all residents about acceptable smoking areas.
  2. The landlord tried to arrange a meeting with the resident and local housing officers to discuss her concerns but the resident did not wish to take part. The resident also declined to take part in mediation. In July 2023 the resident approached the Ombudsman for support as she felt her complaint was not being handled appropriately.
  3. It reiterated that it did not uphold the resident’s complaint in its stage 2 response dated 13 August 2023 however following contact from the Ombudsman, the landlord escalated to stage 3. It issued a stage 3 response on 19 October 2023 and did not uphold her complaint.
  4. Between May 2023 and December 2023, the landlord received counter-allegations of antisocial behaviour against the resident. As a result, the resident was given an injunction on 22 December 2023 which restricted contact with named neighbours and their guests. The resident did not attend any hearings associated with the injunction, and returned all documentation stating it was “null and void”.
  5. The landlord applied for a possession order and a notice of hearing for possession was served on 26 February 2024. The resident did not attend the hearing on 9 April 2024 and the court granted possession to the landlord. The landlord took possession of the property on 16 July 2024.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 42.e. of the Scheme states that the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion concern matters where a complainant has or had the opportunity to raise the subject matter of the complaint as part of legal proceedings
  2. In this case, the resident had the opportunity to raise her concerns around ASB at both an injunction hearing and the possession hearing. We have seen evidence that the resident was served with all relevant paperwork to give her notice of the court hearings.