Sovereign Network Group (202316658)

Decision
Case ID	202316658
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	Sovereign Network Group
Landlord type	Housing Association
Occupancy	Secure Tenancy
Date	14 November 2025

Background

The resident lives in a 2-bedroom semi-detached house. The landlord is aware the resident has mental health vulnerabilities and does not have digital access. She said she was unhappy with the landlord’s response to her reports of anti-social behaviour (ASB). She was also unhappy they had not provided a copy of the homes Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).

What the complaint is about

The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s:
1. reports of ASB and associated fencing repairs.
2. request for an Energy Performance Certificate.
3. complaint of discrimination.
4. associated complaint.

Our decision (determination)

We have found:
1. maladministration in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of ASB and associated fencing repairs.
2. no maladministration in the landlord’s response to the resident’s request for an Energy Performance Certificate.
3. no maladministration in the landlord’s response to the resident’s complaint of discrimination.
4. service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.

We have made orders for the landlord to put things right.

Summary of reasons

ASB and associated fence repairs

The landlord did not clearly tell the resident if it was treating her reports under its ASB policy or not. It did not fully respond to her requests for security lights and fencing repairs in 2022. When it committed to fencing repairs, it did not evidence these were completed. It did not acknowledge these failings in its complaint response.

Request for an Energy Performance Certificate

The landlord responded appropriately to the resident’s request and considered her vulnerabilities when it provided a copy of the Energy Performance Certificate.

Complaint of discrimination

The landlord responded appropriately to the resident’s complaint of discrimination and offered to investigate specific examples if these were provided.

Complaint handling

The landlord did not acknowledge the initial complaint and was delayed in responding to its stage 1 and 2 complaints.

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.

Orders

Landlords must comply with our orders in the manner and timescales we specify. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of compliance with our orders by the due date set.

Order	What the landlord must do	Due date
1	Apology order The landlord must apologise in writing to the resident for the failures identified in this report. The landlord must ensure: The apology is specific to the failures identified in this decision, meaningful and empathetic. It has due regard to our apologies guidance.	No later than 12 December 2025
2	Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident £200 for the distress and inconvenience caused to her by its handling of the reports of ASB. This must be paid directly to the resident by the due date. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of payment by the due date.	No later than 12 December 2025
3	Completing the minor fence repairs The landlord must provide written evidence the minor fence repairs raised as part of its stage 2 were completed. If these works have not been completed the landlord must take all steps to ensure the work is completed promptly and in any event by the due date. If the landlord cannot complete the works in this time, it must explain to us, by the due date: Why it cannot complete the works by the due date and provide evidence to support its reasons. It must provide a revised timescale of when it will finish the works; or Explain the steps it has taken to ensure the works were completed and provide supporting evidence. It must provide a revised timescale if it is able to or explain why it cannot.	No later than 12 December 2025
4	Learning order The landlord must review how the actions of its complaint handling team are recorded in its general customer management system. A written copy of this review should be provided to this Service.	No later than 12 December 2025
5	Learning order Write to this Service setting out what the landlord has learnt from the failures identified in the report and what actions it will take to prevent the same failures from happening again in the future.	No later than 12 December 2025

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
April – May 2022	The resident told the landlord children were kicking balls over her fence, and she felt intimidated. She said she was unhappy with the quality of the fencing previously installed. The landlord raised an order to fit an Air Sourced Heat Pump. This involved updating the home’s Energy Performance Certificate.
June – July 2022	The resident reported children kicking balls into her garden and requested security lighting and CCTV to be installed. The landlord’s contractor then reported the resident was distressed and had spoken about ongoing issues with neighbours. The landlord called the resident to discuss. The landlord inspected the fence and said there were no issues with it. It said it would not carry out further work on the fence.
January 2023	The landlord and the resident’s MP communicated about the Energy Performance Certificate, a neighbour dispute and ongoing repairs.
2 March 2023	In her stage 1 complaint the resident said she felt the landlord was hiding something as it had not provided a copy of the Energy Performance Certificate. She reported receiving “hell” from her neighbours and gaps in the fencing were part of this. She wanted compensation and a manager to visit her. She felt the landlord was discriminating against her.
March 2023	The landlord spoke directly to the resident and held an internal case conference to discuss options for support. The resident told the landlord she did not want a visit, and she did not want it to speak to her neighbours directly.
22 March 2023	The landlord gave a stage 1 response. It provided a copy of the Energy Performance Certificate. It said it would install an external light sensor, and the resident could buy CCTV if she wished. It said it had offered to contact the neighbours, but the resident had declined this offer. It would inspect the fence for gaps. It said the offer of a manager visit remained open. It asked for specific examples of how the resident felt discriminated against, so it could investigate.
3 April 2023	The resident told the landlord she had received 2 letters about the Energy Performance Certificate, and she felt this was harassment.
27 April – 10 May 2023	The MP told the landlord the resident was very anxious about children kicking footballs and entering the garden to retrieve them. The landlord called the resident twice but was unable to leave a message.
10 May 2023	The resident cancelled the external light sensor job.
26 June 2023	The resident escalated her complaint. She repeated the same issues raised at stage 1.
27 July 2023	The landlord gave a stage 2 response. The response maintained the position set out in the stage 1 response about the Energy Performance Certificate, ASB and discrimination. It agreed to do some fencing repairs and said it would call the resident in September and October to ensure all works were completed.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident asked this Service to investigate as she was unhappy about the landlord’s handling of her Energy Performance Certificate request and her reports of ASB. She said she found the situation very distressing, and it was impacting her health. In October 2025 she said the neighbours had left. However, she wanted the landlord to recognise the impact of the events.

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.

Complaint	The resident’s reports of anti-social behaviour and associated fencing repairs
Finding	Maladministration

What we did not investigate

The resident said she experienced ASB from her neighbours since 2019. The Ombudsman encourages residents to raise complaints with their landlords when they happen. This helps ensure evidence is available and makes it easier to carry out a full investigation and make fair decisions. Because of this, and the evidence available, this assessment focuses on events from April 2022 onwards.
The landlord’s internal complaint procedure investigated and responded to several issues. These included complaints about responsive repairs to the back door and roof and how the landlord worked with Occupational Therapy. Complaints about the doors were investigated by this Service in report 202430258. Complaints about the garden and reasonable adjustments were investigated by this Service in report 202430266.
The resident did not bring all of the issues investigated at ICP to us for investigation. Accordingly, this investigation has focussed on and assessed the circumstances of the issues that remains outstanding as defined above.

Anti-social behaviour and associated fencing repairs

The resident said the incidents reported caused her significant distress and anxiety. It is important to note it is not the Ombudsman’s role to determine whether ASB occurred or, if it did, who was responsible. The Ombudsman can assess how the landlord has dealt with the reports it received and whether it followed proper procedure and good practice.
The landlord’s ASB policy says it will not investigate reports of children playing as ASB. The landlord’s ASB policy says it will tell the resident if reported issues are classed as ASB or not. It will risk assess all reports and use this assessment to inform its response. It will consider the vulnerability of those involved and will tell the resident if it is closing a case and what to do if the behaviour occurs again.
The resident reported feeling intimidated due to children kicking balls and coming into her garden in April 2022. In line with its policy, the landlord did not consider this ASB but advised the resident to report it to the police. It is not clear if the landlord investigated the resident’s reports of feeling “intimidated”. Given the resident’s known vulnerabilities and in line with its policy, it would have been reasonable for the landlord to check she understood it had not classed the report as ASB and how she could report further issues in the future.
In July 2022 contractors carried out unrelated repairs and reported the resident was very distressed about ongoing issues with her neighbours. In line with its policy the landlord conducted a welfare check the same day. However, given the resident’s vulnerabilities and her reports of “feeling scared”, it would have been reasonable for the landlord to complete a risk assessment at this point and to tell the resident if it considered the report ASB or not.
The resident asked the landlord to look at gaps in the fence and if it could fit security lights. The landlord internally recorded it had previously inspected the fence, and it would not do further fencing works. It failed to tell the resident its position on security lights and further fence works, which likely contributed to the resident’s confusion over what the landlord would and would not do.
On 7 February 2023, the resident’s MP asked about previously made neighbour dispute reports and for an update on her CCTV and security light requests. The landlord contacted the resident who said she was receiving “hell” from her neighbours, and it raised a complaint on 2 March 2023.
In March 2023, the landlord raised a job for an external sensor light. It spoke to the resident about her complaints and held an internal case conference to discuss options for support. This was appropriate and considered its ASB, safeguarding and vulnerability policies.
The landlord offered appropriate solutions and took steps to put things right in its stage 1 response. The resident chose to decline some of these options, and this was her right. The landlord’s actions at stage 1 were appropriate and it took steps to put things right.
Through her MP, in spring 2023 the resident continued to report issues with her neighbours and their grandchildren. The landlord responded to these reports in line with its policy.
The landlord inspected the fencing and said it would conduct minor repairs in its stage 2 response. There is no evidence these minor repairs were completed or if the resident cancelled them, and this was a record keeping failure.
The resident cancelled the external light sensor fitting. She said this was because she did not want further work carried out until the complaint was resolved. This was her choice and the landlord respected this.
The landlord offered a managerial visit again in its stage 2 response. The resident declined this offer, however the landlord agreed to call her in September and October 2023 to ensure all works raised had been completed. The landlord did not evidence it called the resident at the agreed times, and this was a failure to complete its proposed actions.
The landlord did not uphold the ASB aspect of the resident’s complaint and did not acknowledge the failures set out above. This was not in line with our Dispute Resolution Principles, which require landlords to be fair, put things right, and learn from outcomes.
The resident told the landlord she was very distressed by the situation. We have made orders to put things right for the resident which includes compensation in line with our Remedies Guidance for the distress and inconvenience caused by the communication failures in 2022 and the lack of evidence the fencing repairs were completed.

Complaint	The resident’s request for an Energy Performance Certificate
Finding	No maladministration

The tenancy agreement says the landlord is responsible for keeping landlord installed heating installations in good repair and proper working order.
The landlord included the resident’s home in a project to improve the Energy Performance Certificate rating of its older properties. It offered the resident an air source heat pump in 2022 which it said she chose to decline. The landlord has said this offer is still available.
Energy Performance Certificates are publicly available online. In response to the resident’s request, it provided a copy of the Energy Performance Certificate as part of its stage 1 response on 22 March 2023. The landlord acted reasonably and considered the resident did not have access to the internet.

Complaint	The resident’s report of discrimination
Finding	No maladministration

What we did not investigate

The resident said she felt the landlord had discriminated against her. This Service cannot determine whether discrimination has taken place. These are legal terms which are better suited to a court to decide. However, we have considered whether the landlord had regard to its obligations under the Equality Act 2010 (EA). We have also considered how the landlord responded to the resident’s concerns, whether it communicated clearly and acted fairly based on its duties, policies and procedures.

The resident’s report of discrimination

The Equality Act protects people from unfair treatment based on protected characteristics. If on notice, landlords must consider whether their decision making, or actions could put someone at a particular disadvantage due to their vulnerabilities. Landlords are also required to make appropriate reasonable adjustments. The landlord’s vulnerability and reasonable adjustment policy commits the landlord to:
1. recognise and respond to vulnerabilities.
2. make reasonable adjustments where residents face disadvantage due to disability or vulnerability. These should be tailored to individual need.
3. consider case-by-case adjustments.
4. record and monitor agreed adjustments.
The resident said she felt the landlord discriminated against her in March 2023. The landlord asked her for examples of this discrimination so that it could investigate. It also reviewed its records. The resident did not provide specific examples of discrimination. However, the landlord kept the offer of investigation open and asked that she share any examples. These actions were appropriate when assessed against its policies.

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	Service failure

The Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) sets out when and how a landlord should respond to complaints. The relevant Code in this case is the 2024 edition. Our findings are:
1. the landlord has a published complaints policy which complies with the Code in respect of timescales.
2. the landlord did not acknowledge the resident’s stage 1 complaint. This was not in line with its policy. However, it responded within 15 days to the stage 1 complaint. This was in line with the total timescales laid out in the Code.
3. the landlord acknowledged the stage 2 complaint after 18 working days. This was not in line with its policy. However, it responded 6 working days after acknowledgement. This was slightly outside of the total timescale laid out in the code.
The landlord did not acknowledge the lack of acknowledgement or stage 2 delay in line with the Code. Had the landlord done so, this may have prevented the resident time and trouble as she had to contact the landlord to ask about the outcome of her complaint. We have therefore ordered an apology.

Learning

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

The actions of the complaints team were not consistently recorded in the landlord’s central case management system. We have made an order to review how the actions of its complaint handling team are recorded in its general customer management system.

Communication

The landlord responded clearly to the resident’s request for an Energy Performance Certificate and her complaint of discrimination. It stated what it would and would not do.
The landlord did not always respond to the resident and keep her updated about its assessment of ASB reports. We have made an order for the landlord to set out any learning from this complaint.