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Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (202307978)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202307978

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

13 September 2024

 

Our approach

The Housing Ombudsman’s approach to investigating and determining complaints is to decide what is fair in all the circumstances of the case. This is set out in the Housing Act 1996 and the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme). The Ombudsman considers the evidence and looks to see if there has been any ‘maladministration’, for example, whether the landlord has failed to keep to the law, followed proper procedure, followed good practice, or behaved in a reasonable and competent manner.

Both the resident and the landlord have submitted information to the Ombudsman, and this has been carefully considered. Their accounts of what has happened are summarised below. This report is not an exhaustive description of all the events that have occurred in relation to this case, but an outline of the key issues as a background to the investigation’s findings.

The complaint

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for repairs to the gutters at the property.

Jurisdiction

  1. What we can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. This is governed by the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. 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, in accordance with paragraphs 41.c. and 42.e. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the resident’s complaint about the landlord’s handling of her request for repairs to the gutters are outside of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.
  3. 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 were given.
  4. 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 the legal proceedings.

Summary of events

  1. The resident has a secure tenancy with the landlord, a local authority, which began in March 2021. On 25 August 2022, the resident reported that the gutters were in a poor condition as water overflowed whenever it rained. The landlord and the resident communicated over several months regarding her repair request. This included discussions about appointments, inspections, and repairs needed to the gutters. The resident raised a formal complaint about the matter on 14 October 2022. She complained that the landlord had failed to carry out any works, further to an inspection that was conducted in September 2022.
  2. The landlord responded to the stage 1 complaint on 1 November 2022. It assured the resident that it was willing to resolve the repairs and proceeded with discussions with her to arrange a mutually convenient date for the works. The resident requested the escalation of the complaint to stage 2 on 10 January 2023. She said the landlord had failed to remedy the issue with the gutters and requested compensation for the inconvenience. On 24 January 2023 the landlord responded to the resident’s stage 2 complaint. The landlord said that the delay in resolving the repairs was not its fault, as the resident had not provided access to its operatives. It concluded that it would not be offering any compensation. The resident escalated the complaint to this Service on 10 April 2023 and said that she remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s handling of the matter.
  3. The Ombudsman notes from the evidence that the resident made a housing disrepair legal claim through her solicitors around June 2023 against the landlord. An expert witness report dated 29 June 2023 noted various items of repair including works to the front and rear of the property. During our request for evidence, the landlord informed this Service on 2 February 2024, that it paid the resident £2,250 as part of a legal settlement in October 2023. We have seen a copy of the acceptance letter, through the resident’s solicitors, dated 25 October 2023. The solicitors confirmed that the matter had been settled on the condition that payment was received and the repairs completed by 23 January 2024.
  4. We contacted the resident on 6 August 2024 to clarify the status of the repairs and if the works had been satisfactorily completed. The resident stated that the works had been completed but this was following a court order. She further said that she remained dissatisfied as the repair had not been satisfactorily addressed. This Service contacted the landlord on 13 August 2023 to verify this new information. The landlord provided a copy of a general form of judgement or court order dated 11 July 2024 to this Service on 15 August 2024. The court ordered that:
    1. All further proceedings in this matter be stayed upon the terms set out in the schedule to this order except for the purpose of enforcing those terms.
    2. Either party may be permitted to apply to the court to enforce the terms upon which this matter has been stayed without the need to bring a new claim.
    3. The defendants do pay the claimant s reasonable costs of the action to be assessed if not agreed.
    4. The defendant shall complete the works as outlined in the inspection report dated 29 June 2023 at the claimant’s property by no later than 22 August 2024.
    5. The hearing listed for 10 January 2025 be vacated.
    6. The defendant shall pay the claimant the sum of £750.00 (the settlement sum) in settlement of the claimants claim for damages brought against the defendant in this claim, by way of a bank transfer to the claimant’s solicitors clients bank account on or before 4:00 pm on 18 July 2024.
    7. Upon payment of the damages and costs and completion of the works referred to above, the defendant shall be discharged from any further liability to the claimant in respect of this claim.
  5. Based on the evidence, the Ombudsman is satisfied that there were legal proceedings and that the merits were resolved by consent order (final order) of the court. As such, we no longer have jurisdiction to investigate the issues that were the subject of those proceedings. This is because the court has made a decision on the matter and it would neither be fair nor proportionate for the Ombudsman to consider the matter separately. The Ombudsman is therefore satisfied that the resident’s complaint is outside our jurisdiction to consider.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with the paragraph 41.c. and 42.c. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the complaint about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for repairs to the gutters at the property is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.