Southern Housing (202524465)

Background

1. The resident has lived in a 1 bedroom bungalow since 2016. The resident contacted the landlord about not paying rent due to increased fuel bills. The resident was concerned that the landlord failed to contact her about the issue.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s concerns it did not respond to her correspondence.
3. We have also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Our decision (determination)

4. We have found that:
   1. There was reasonable redress in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s concerns it did not respond to her correspondence.
   2. There was reasonable redress in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Summary of reasons

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s concerns it had not replied to her correspondence

5. Following the resident’s complaint, the landlord acknowledged it had failed to reply to her correspondence. The landlord apologised and offered compensation which we consider was proportionate to the failings we identified in our investigation and was satisfactory to resolve the complaint.

The landlord’s complaint handling

6. The landlord identified it had taken too long to acknowledge the resident’s escalated complaint. It offered compensation for its failing, which satisfactorily resolved the failings in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Putting things right

We have the discretion to make recommendations in all other cases within our jurisdiction.

Recommendation

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.

What we have not considered

7. The resident has told both us and the landlord as a resolution to her complaint she would like to be permanently moved to a different property. We are not able to tell a landlord to move the resident or comment on how it should allocate its housing stock. Our investigation will focus on how the landlord responded to the resident’s concerns.
8. We have previously investigated the resident’s complaints about the landlord’s handling of repairs at the property. Our investigation confirmed the landlord had decided the resident must be relocated for repairs to be carried out. The resident declined temporary relocation and is currently waiting to be permanently relocated. This investigation has not reconsidered the landlord’s handling of repairs at the property, although we do make reference to the repairs in this report for context.

What we have considered

9. The evidence shows that between 2022 and 2024 the resident reported several outstanding repairs. In July 2024 the landlord told the resident it needed to temporarily relocate her while it carried out the repairs. The resident declined temporary relocation and instead applied for a managed move to be permanently relocated.
10. In November 2024 the landlord issued 2 fuel vouchers for £49 to the resident as a goodwill gesture due to the outstanding repairs and the impact the situation had on her fuel bills. The landlord’s records show no further vouchers were offered to the resident as it was decided she was not in financial crisis, and she declined to engage with it on the matter.
11. The resident emailed the landlord on 7 March 2025. She said she had not paid her rent in February 2025 as she had paid heating bills instead. She reiterated the heating bills had had increased because there were outstanding repairs at the property.
12. As an assured tenant, the resident is obliged to pay rent to the landlord as per the property’s tenancy agreement. The landlord’s rent arrears policy states that if a resident does not pay rent as per the agreement, they risk enforcement action being taken. The policy also says the resident should contact the landlord to discuss rent arrears as soon as possible and it will make every effort to assist the resident in handling those arrears.
13. In April 2025 the landlord agreed to facilitate a managed move for the resident.
14. On 2 April 2025 the resident complained to the landlord as it had not replied to her email from March 2025.
15. On 7 May 2025 the landlord sent its stage 1 complaint response to the resident. It apologised and offered £30 compensation for not replying to her email from March 2025. The landlord said it could not waive the rent she owed from February 2025, and it had previously given fuel vouchers to go towards her bills. It said it was keen to do the outstanding repairs, but she had declined to be temporarily relocated while it did so.
16. The resident told the landlord she unhappy with its complaint response on 15 May 2025.
17. The landlord sent its stage 2 complaint response to the resident on 21 August 2025. The landlord apologised and increased its compensation offer to £250 for the time, inconvenience and trouble caused by it not replying to her email from March 2025 promptly. It said the offer to temporarily relocate her remained open if she changed her mind. Otherwise, it would continue to search for suitable permanent properties.
18. The landlord has taken no action to try to collect the unpaid rent from February 2025. The property repairs remain outstanding as the resident has yet to be relocated.
19. When failures are identified, as in this case, our role is to consider whether the redress offered by the landlord put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily. In considering this, we take into account whether the offer of redress was in line with our Dispute Resolution Principles: Be Fair, Put Things Right, and Learn from Outcomes, as well as our own guidance on remedies.
20. In summary, the landlord accepted wrongdoing, apologised and offered redress to the resident for not replying to her correspondence and the inconvenience that caused her. The level of compensation offered by the landlord was in line with an amount consistent with our remedies guidance. It fairly reflected the impact caused by the delayed response and was a reasonable offer in the circumstances. As such, this leads to a determination of reasonable redress in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s concerns it had not replied to her correspondence.

21. The landlord operates a 2 stage complaints process. The landlord’s complaint policy states it will acknowledge complaints within 5 working days. It aims to respond to stage 1 complaints within 10 working days of acknowledging them and stage 2 complaints within 20 working days. The landlord can extend the timescales for when it replies to a complaint, but it must inform the resident of the reason for the delay. This is in line with our Complaint Handling Code.
22. The resident complained to the landlord on 2 April 2025. The landlord acknowledged the complaint on 8 April 2025, which was within its policy timescale.
23. The landlord told the resident on 22 April 2025 it was still investigating her complaint, and it would reply by 7 May 2025. This extension was in line with its policy.
24. On 7 May 2025 the landlord sent its stage 1 complaint response to the resident. This response was within the timescale permitted by its complaints policy.
25. The resident escalated her complaint on 15 May 2025. The landlord acknowledged the complaint on 23 June 2025, which was outside of its policy timescale. The landlord offered the resident £65 compensation for its delayed response.
26. The landlord emailed the resident on 24 July 2025 and said it needed more time to investigate her complaint. The process by which it informed the resident about the need for an extension was again in accordance with its policy.
27. On 21 August 2025 the landlord sent its stage 2 complaint response to the resident. The landlord apologised and increased its compensation offer to £145 as it took 3 months to reply to her escalated complaint.
28. The landlord initially followed its complaint’s policy response timescales, but it took longer to respond than the timescales set out in its policy. The landlord apologised and offered compensation to the resident for not replying to her when it was due to. The compensation offered by the landlord was reasonable and in line with our remedies guidance. As such, this leads to a determination of reasonable redress, in that the landlord put things right for the resident for its complaint handling failure.

Learning

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

29. The landlord’s records were sufficient for us to investigate the matters raised in the resident’s complaint.

Communication

30. The landlord did not always reply to the resident’s correspondence promptly. The landlord should look for opportunities to draw learning from this complaint to inform improved customer service going forward.