Nottingham Community Housing Association Limited (202400921)

Background

1. The residents have been a tenant of the landlord since September 2017. The residents have additional needs due to their health. Since at least April 2023 the resident has been reporting anti-social behaviour (ASB) from his neighbour to the landlord. The resident provided evidence of the ASB and the landlord took steps to address the reports. Between June and July 2023 the landlord tried to contact the resident several times for an update on the ASB. However, when it did not receive a response it wrote to the resident to say it would be closing the case. The resident then responded to say the landlord had not resolved the ASB issues and raised a complaint.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of anti-social behaviour from their neighbour.
3. We have also considered the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Our decision (determination)

4. There was reasonable redress by the landlord in relation to its handling of the resident’s reports of anti-social behaviour from their neighbour.
5. There was no maladministration by the landlord in relation to its handling of the associated complaint.

We have not made orders for the landlord to put things right.

Summary of reasons

6. The resident complained because he was unhappy with how the landlord had dealt with his reports of ASB. In its stage 2 complaint the landlord acknowledged there had been failings. It apologised for these failings and set out how it would investigate and address the resident’s reports of ASB forward. This was an appropriate response under the circumstance and therefore we have made a finding of reasonable redress.
7. The landlord issued its complaint responses in line with its complaints policy’s procedures and timescales. However, it did not address all the resident’s concerns at stage 1. That said, these were addressed at stage 2, and no evidence has been seen to show these impacted the resident or the outcome of the complaint. As such, we have found there was no maladministration with regard to the landlord’s complaint handling.

Putting things right

Where we find service failure, maladministration or severe maladministration we can make orders for the landlord to put things right. We have the discretion to make recommendations in all other cases within our jurisdiction.

Recommendations

Our recommendations are not binding, and a landlord may decide not to follow them.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

What we found and why

The circumstances of this complaint are well known by the parties involved, so it is not necessary to detail everything that’s happened or comment on all the information we’ve reviewed. We’ve only included the key information that forms the basis of our decision of whether the landlord is responsible for maladministration.

8. The landlord’s ASB policy says that when it receives reports of ASB it will carry out risk assessments. It says these assessments are to identify vulnerable victims that may require additional support and intervention to resolve their problems. It also says it will adopt an incremental approach to manage customer behaviour in line with their tenancy agreement. It says this will start with the lowest appropriate sanction and escalate as required to deter and restrict repeated misbehaviour. It says informal sanctions will always be considered first but in cases where there is a serious breach of agreement it may use legal remedies immediately. The policy also gives a short list of possible sanctions, for example verbal and written warnings, acceptable behaviour contracts, injunctions, etc.
9. When the resident confirmed he wanted us to investigate the complaint he said the ASB had been going on for 3 years and still was. However, we have not seen evidence that he raised a formal complaint about the landlord’s handling of the issues until 2 August 2023. We encourage residents to bring formal complaints to the attention of the landlord within a reasonable time of the problem occurring, usually within 12 months, so the landlord has a reasonable opportunity to resolve the issues. Therefore, the scope of this investigation includes events from August 2022 (12 months before the complaint was made) up to the point the resident’s complaint completed the landlord’s internal complaints process (29 August 2023). Anything that happened before this or after the issue of the landlord’s stage 2 response is considered for context purposes only.
10. In identifying whether there has been maladministration we consider both the events which initially prompted a complaint and the landlord’s response to those events through the operation of its complaints procedure. The extent to which a landlord has recognised and addressed any shortcomings and the appropriateness of any steps taken to offer redress are therefore as relevant as the original mistake or service failure. We will not make a finding of maladministration where the landlord has used the complaints process to fully acknowledge any failings and taken reasonable steps to resolve them.
11. In this instance, the landlord acknowledged in its stage 2 response that there had been failings with its handling of the resident’s reports of ASB. It said:
    1. There had been failings with regard to its evidence gathering. It acknowledged it had not considered all the available options to support the resident or all avenues to enforce the tenancy with his neighbour. In recognition of these failings, it said it would have a senior member of staff review the ASB case. It said it would then share its findings and any recommended actions with its community safety manager.
    2. It agreed that assigning a new ASB investigator would be beneficial to the case given the resident’s experiences so far. It confirmed it would assign a new investigator.
    3. It agreed it should have considered the resident’s disabilities as part of the case management. It said this omission influenced the recommendation in its stage 1 response that the original case investigator be kept on the case.
    4. It had carried out a risk assessment on 2 May 2023 and provided a copy of the assessment. However, it acknowledged it should have shared this with the resident sooner and carried out further assessments as circumstances changed. It said it would carry out another risk assessment after it had completed the case review.
12. It was appropriate for the landlord to acknowledge its failings in the way it handled the resident’s reports of ASB. It was also reasonable for it to apologise for these failings and confirm how it would address them going forward. We are also aware that following the landlord’s stage 2 response it continued to investigate the resident’s reports of ASB and gather evidence.
13. We appreciate the resident has told this Service that he continues to experience ASB from his neighbour and he wants the landlord to do something about them. However, he has not said what it is he would like the landlord to do. It is important to point out that the landlord is not responsible for the neighbour’s reported actions. Additionally, no action it could take, except maybe eviction, could stop the neighbour engaging in ASB.
14. Overall, the landlord’s acknowledgement of its failings in how it handled the resident’s reports of ASB was reasonable. In recognition of these failings, it apologised and provided an appropriate action plan for how it would address these going forward with its ASB investigation. Therefore, we have made a finding of reasonable redress.
15. That said, we recommend the landlord set out to the resident how it is actively monitoring the ongoing ASB issues he has reported.

16. The landlord’s complaints policy says it will acknowledge complaints within 3 working days. It says it will respond to a stage 1 complaint within 10 working days of it being logged. It also says the landlord will respond to stage 2 complaints within 20 working days from the date of the escalation request. The policy says that should more time be needed at either stage, the landlord will inform the resident and an extension will not exceed a further 10 working days unless agreed.
17. The resident raised his complaint on 2 August 2023 and the landlord acknowledged it that same day. The landlord then issued its stage 1 response on 14 August 2023. This was within the timescale set out in the landlord’s complaints policy.
18. The resident escalated his complaint on 15 August 2023 and the landlord acknowledged it on 17 August 2023. On 23 August 2023 the landlord wrote to the resident and said it needed more time to investigate the complaint. It said that if the resident was in agreement then it would extend the deadline to 5 September 2023. The resident responded the same day and agreed to the extension. The landlord then issued its stage 2 response on 29 August 2023. This was all in line with the landlord’s complaints policy’s procedures and timescales.
19. In its stage 2 response the landlord acknowledged that it should have addressed the resident’s concerns that his household’s disabilities were not being considered in its stage 1 response. In recognition of this it apologised for not having addressed this aspect of the complaint sooner.
20. Our complaint handling code, operated at the time, required landlords to address all points raised in a complaint and provide clear reasons for any decisions, referencing the relevant policy, law and good practice where appropriate. As such, it was appropriate for the landlord to acknowledge this failing and apologise to the resident.
21. Overall the landlord’s failures, as set out above, can be summarised as failings to address all the resident’s concerns at the earliest opportunity. That said, we have not seen evidence that these failings had an impact on the resident or the outcome of the complaint. As such, we have found there was no maladministration with regard to the landlord’s complaint handling.

Learning

Complaint handling

22. The landlord must ensure its complaint responses address all the points raised by a resident in their complaint.