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Places for People Group Limited (202327952)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202327952

Places for People Group Limited

4 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 Scheme). We must determine whether a complaint comes within our jurisdiction. We seek to resolve disputes wherever possible but cannot investigate complaints that fall outside of this. In deciding whether a complaint falls within our jurisdiction, we 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 damp and mould from May 2024.

Determination (jurisdictional decision)

  1. There are sometimes reasons why a complaint will not be investigated. After carefully considering all the evidence, we have determined that the complaint, as set out above, is not within our jurisdiction.

Summary of events

  1. The resident reported damp and mould on the bathroom ceiling in 2022 and complained about the landlord’s response in May 2023. In the landlord’s stage 1 response it acknowledged delays, offered compensation and said the bathroom ceiling would be reskimmed at the end of the month.
  2. The resident confirmed the repairs had been completed to his satisfaction but escalated the complaint due to poor communication, complaint handling, and a delay paying the compensation. In the landlord’s stage 2 response of October 2023 it upheld the complaint and increased the offer of compensation. It noted the resident had agreed this resolved the complaint.
  3. The resident raised new concerns about the bathroom ceiling in May 2024 and asked the landlord to reopen the original complaint in July 2024. In the landlord’s stage 1 response of August 2024 it said it could not reopen the original complaint as it had exhausted its complaint process. If the resident remained unhappy with its response to that complaint, he could escalate it to us. It offered £175 compensation for distress, inconvenience and delays for the more recent issues and said further ceiling repairs had been booked for September 2024.
  4. The resident contacted us in August 2024, saying he was dissatisfied with the landlord’s response. In April 2025 we accepted the complaint for investigation based on the stage 2 response of October 2023. The resident has confirmed to us that no stage 2 response has been issued in relation to the events of May 2024 onwards.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 42.a of the Scheme says we may not consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, are made prior to having exhausted a member’s complaints procedure. This is because it is the landlord’s responses to both the initial incident, and throughout the complaint process, that are under investigation. If there is no response, there is little to investigate.
  2. We only have evidence that the first complaint has exhausted the landlord’s complaint process. Both parties agree that this was resolved in October 2023 and has not been referred to us for consideration. As a result, we are not investigating the events that took place prior to that date.
  3. The resident did raise a new complaint in July 2024, about the events of May 2024 onwards, and the landlord issued a stage 1 response in August 2024. It told the resident it could not re-investigate the issues addressed in the stage 2 complaint of October 2023. However, it did not tell the resident how he could escalate his new complaint (about the issues from May 2024) to stage 2. Instead, it told him to contact us about any issues that remained unresolved.
  4. We are unable to investigate the new issues from May 2024 as the landlord has not addressed them at both stages of its complaint process. As stated above, this means we could not fully investigate the landlord’s response via that process. As a result, the complaint is currently outside our jurisdiction and will not be investigated at this time.
  5. We accept that we should have identified this position earlier (from August 2024 onwards) and advised the parties accordingly. We sincerely apologise for this error and confirm that we have taken learning from this case. We have also created a new case ref. 202523940 which relates specifically to the events of May 2024 onwards.
  6. There is evidence the resident has continued to raise dissatisfaction with the landlord about events after May 2024. We encourage the landlord to respond in line with its complaint process and the Complaint Handling Code. Should the resident remain dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and decide to refer the complaint to us, we will expedite the investigation.