Peabody Trust (202309854)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202309854

Peabody Trust

9 September 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.

Determination (jurisdictional decision)

2. 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.
3. 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

4. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord under an agreement dated 18 February 2013. The property is a 2 bedroom flat in a purpose built block. The landlord is a housing association.
5. The resident emailed the landlord on 25 March 2023 to report ongoing antisocial behaviour from a neighbour including noise nuisance and said that the landlord was not taking action about this. She said that she would be taking the case to court.
6. On 13 July 2023, we raised a complaint on behalf of the resident to the landlord concerning the antisocial behaviour after the resident contacted us. The complaint was about ongoing antisocial behaviour from a neighbour.
7. The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response on 15 August 2023. The landlord advised that it was taking tenancy action against the alleged perpetrator, though was unable to confirm the action due to data protection issues.
8. The resident was dissatisfied with the landlord’s complaint response and after contacting us, we wrote to the landlord on 23 January 2024 to request that it escalate the resident’s complaint to stage 2 of its internal complaints process.
9. The landlord issued its final response on 30 January 2024. It reiterated its stage 1 complaint response. It said it had responded and put in some additional security measures in place and logged the resident’s antisocial behaviour reports. It advised that it had acted in line with its policy and procedures. However, due to a short delay in its stage 1 complaint response it awarded £25 in compensation.
10. The resident was dissatisfied with the landlord’s final complaint response and referred her complaint to us on 1 February 2024.

Reasons

11. Paragraph 41.c of the Scheme states that the Ombudsman cannot consider complaints, which in the Ombudsman’s opinion concern matters that are the subject of court proceedings or were the subject of court proceedings where judgement on the merits was given.
12. The resident has issued a legal claim against the landlord about its handling of her reports of antisocial behaviour and criminal activity over the past 4 years. As at the date of this determination, the resident’s reports of antisocial behaviour neighbour are the subject of ongoing court proceedings. Therefore, the Ombudsman cannot consider the complaint as it is the subject of legal proceedings. It is outside of our jurisdiction to investigate in line with paragraph 41.c of the Scheme, as above.