Yorkshire Housing Limited (202339873)

Background

1. The resident held an assured tenancy from 2013. She applied to buy the property through the Right to Acquire (RTA) scheme around November 2021. The landlord instructed a solicitor to deal with the sale, who we also refer to as the landlord, unless stated otherwise. The sale completed in November 2024.

What the complaint is about

2. The landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
   1. RTA application and property purchase.
   2. Associated complaint.

Our decision (determination)

3. We find service failure in the landlord’s handling of the RTA application and property purchase. We have made orders for the landlord to put things right.
4. The landlord provided reasonable redress for its complaint handling.

Summary of reasons

5. The landlord acknowledged delays in the RTA process and made some effort to put this right. However, its remedy did not recognise all its failings and the impact of them on the resident.
6. The landlord’s stage 1 response was issued outside the timeframe specified in its customer feedback policy and our complaint handling code (the Code). However, it has put this right and awarded appropriate remedy.

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.

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.

7. Housing Association residents can apply to buy a property at a discount through the RTA scheme. Landlords must tell the applicant whether they will sell the property within 4 weeks (for those who have had a tenancy for 3 years or more). If the landlord agrees to sell, it must send an offer with details of the purchase price within 12 weeks of its initial decision (for leaseholders).
8. We do not know exactly when the resident applied to buy the property. However, the landlord agreed to sell it on 13 December 2021. It had until around 7 March 2022 to issue its offer but did not do so until 22 July 2022.
9. While this was more than 4 months outside the scheme timeframes, this did not delay the overall sale of the property. This is because the resident applied to change her application on 6 June 2022 and remove her partner. Therefore, even if the landlord had issued its offer earlier, it is likely it would have needed to withdraw it and issue a new one.
10. The landlord issued a revised offer on 19 August 2022, after the resident queried whether a parking space was included. She had 12 weeks to accept it and was asked to provide a copy of her mortgage offer when doing so. We do not know when she accepted the offer. The landlord’s records document that, while she provided details of her solicitor in September 2022, she did not provide her mortgage offer.
11. Between 30 November 2022 and 6 January 2023 the resident’s solicitor contacted the landlord asking for a reply to earlier requests for contracts. It asked why there was a delay. While the resident was aware she needed to provide the mortgage offer, it would have been helpful if the landlord told the solicitor this was outstanding.
12. We have not seen evidence the landlord chased the mortgage offer until 9 January 2023. The resident provided it shortly after. The landlord instructed a solicitor that day. Its instruction letter said it hoped to complete the sale within 12 weeks.
13. From that point it is reasonable to expect the sale process would be completed within 5 months, around 9 June 2023. This is based on the landlord’s estimation and government guidance which says the typical time to complete property sales is around 5 months. Records show the landlord needed to obtain plans and a lease for the property and the resident’s solicitor asked for various documents. This was a standard part of the conveyancing process.
14. On 12 January 2023 the resident’s solicitors requested various documents from the landlord including a management pack. This usually requires the landlord to complete an essential leasehold information pack form (LPE1) and provide details of any fire safety compliance and supporting documents. The resident’s solicitor chased the information on 10 and 25 April 2023 and said the resident’s mortgage offer had to be extended until 3 May 2023. It said she was frustrated with the delay. The landlord replied on 10 May 2023 that it had chased its fire safety team and would do so again.
15. As the sale could not progress without the outstanding information the resident’s mortgage offer expired. Her solicitor provided an amended mortgage offer on 3 August 2023. While the landlord provided the completed LPE1 form to its solicitor on 15 August 2023, it was still trying to obtain the supporting FRA document.
16. The resident’s solicitor asked for the FRA on 22 August and 13 and 21 September 2023. The resident followed this up on 22 September 2023 and said her new mortgage had a higher interest rate. She said the sale was taking too long and causing her stress. The landlord replied on 25 September 2023 and said it would chase its fire safety team again.
17. On 10 October 2023 the resident’s solicitor chased the FRA again. They said the resident’s second mortgage offer was close to expiring. The landlord provided the FRA on 12 October 2023. This was 9 months since the resident’s solicitor first requested fire safety information and 4 months outside the expected completion period of 5 months. Thereafter, the sale completed as expected without any significant delays.
18. The landlord’s compensation policy says compensation may be appropriate to put a resident back in the position they would have been in, had an issue not occurred. It is positive the landlord reconsidered its position in its stage 2 response, awarding compensation for the financial loss incurred by its delays. Its awards for increased mortgage payments and loss of the cashback incentive were appropriate.
19. While the landlord apologised that the resident paid rent instead of a mortgage, it did not offer any remedy for this. There are no statutory provisions for a landlord to compensate for delays in the RTA process, but we would expect it to consider the full impact of its delays on the resident, including additional costs incurred as a result.
20. As the resident paid rent for longer than she should have, due to the landlord’s delay in providing information to her solicitor, she experienced actual financial loss. The landlord has not adequately recognised this and has missed an opportunity to put things right in line with our dispute resolution principles.
21. We order the landlord to apologise for this service failure and its delay processing the initial application. We also order compensation for financial loss to recognise that the resident paid rent during the landlord’s 4‑month delay in providing fire safety information. Our order is not for a refund of rent paid, but the rent charged is used as a financial benchmark for the losses incurred by the resident. As we have explained, we do not consider the resident incurred financial loss due to the landlord’s delay providing its first offer.
22. The resident told us she lost wages as the situation affected her health. We cannot consider this issue. This is because we are not medical experts so cannot decide whether something impacted health or not. The resident could seek independent advice about this or consider a claim through the landlord’s liability insurance or the courts.
23. However, we can consider compensation for any distress, inconvenience, time and trouble caused by the landlord’s failures. The resident feels its offer does not recognise the impact of delays, including the significant time and trouble she spent progressing the sale.We have not seen evidence to support her claim that she called over 100 times. However, the landlord has acknowledged communication failures. We have seen the resident spent significant time and trouble asking for updates and trying to progress the sale.
24. We do not dispute that the delay of such an important process caused the resident significant distress and inconvenience. She experienced a prolonged period of uncertainty as to whether the sale would complete. She also experienced distress and inconvenience by having to secure additional funding which was not guaranteed.
25. However, the landlord’s offer of £1,000 compensation to recognise this impact was appropriate. It is at the top end of our compensation guidance range for when failures have a significant impact on a resident and substantial redress is needed to put things right. Therefore, we do not order the landlord to pay any further compensation for distress and inconvenience.
26. While the overall award of compensation is substantial, we find that the landlord did take the opportunity of the complaint process to properly investigate the resident’s concerns and identify elements of failure. It took considerable steps to restore the resident’s position and only failed to do so on particular aspects of the complaint. Therefore, a finding of service failure is appropriate.

27. The landlord has a 2-stage complaint process. It aims to acknowledge complaints at both stages within 5 working days. It then aims to respond at stage 1 within 10 working days and within 20 working days at stage 2. This is in line with the Code.
28. The landlord acknowledged the stage 1 complaint the day it was received. Although it told the resident to expect a response around 30 October 2023 it did not provide this until 7 December 2023. While it did not update her with a revised timeframe, it did apologise for the delay on 17 November 2023. It also issued a £50 shopping voucher. This was in line with its compensation policy which says it can pay compensation in the form of shopping vouchers.
29. Also, that day it offered the resident £250 compensation with a view to resolving her complaint. While we understand why the landlord wanted to resolve matters informally, its customer feedback policy says it will do so within 5 working days of a resident raising their dissatisfaction. Given the complaint response was already out of time, this attempt to resolve matters delayed them unnecessarily as the resident later declined the offer and the landlord kept its position in its stage 1 response.
30. The landlord’s stage 2 response was issued in line with its customer feedback policy timeframes, allowing for an added 20-day extension in line with the Code.
31. In identifying if there has been maladministration, we consider whether a landlord has recognised any shortcomings and the appropriateness of any remedy. We will not make a finding of maladministration where the landlord has fully acknowledged its failings and taken reasonable steps to resolve them.
32. The landlord’s apology and £50 voucher for the stage 1 complaint delays was appropriate. It is in line with our compensation guidance to recognise time and trouble caused by minor complaint handling delays that do not affect the overall outcome. Therefore, we find the landlord has provided reasonable redress for its complaint handling failures.

Learning

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

33. The landlord has been open and transparent in its provision of information and provided sufficient records to allow us to investigate the complaint.

Communication

34. It is positive the landlord recognised communication could be better. It has since allocated people to RTA applications to improve communication and the purchase process. Our centre for learning has resources to help landlord’s create stronger, more positive relationships and a safer, more supportive housing experience for everyone.