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Nottingham City Homes (201911262)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 201911262

Nottingham City Homes

21 October 2021


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 resident complained about the landlord’s decision to not pay them a Responsible Tenant Award in 2019.

Background and summary of events

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant in a property owned by the landlord.
  2. The complaint was brought to the Service by a representative, on behalf of the resident.
  3. The representative has notified this Service that the resident has Asperger’s, severe obsessive compulsive disorder and finds providing access to their home very distressing.
  4. The Responsible Tenant Award is an award the landlord offers to qualifying residents, in the form of £100 credit to their rent account. To receive the award, the landlord states a resident must meet conditions, including the following:
  1. The rent account is paid up to date or, the balance is less than £100, or an arrangement is place to pay the rent and arrears and this is being maintained.
  2. Gas servicing and any other appointments including planned or responsive repairs, district heating, gas safety, electrical inspections, solar panel testing, fire safety works, servicing and checks and other have been kept (or have been rearranged in good time).

 

  1. The terms and conditions for the responsible tenant award explain that there is a formal appeal process for residents who have not qualified for the award but believe they should have. Appeals will be considered by the landlord and its decision will be set out in writing, which is considered final.
  2. The terms and conditions state that if the appeal process is completed and the resident remains dissatisfied, there will be no recourse to the landlord’s complaints process. Rather, dissatisfied residents will be referred to the Housing Ombudsman Service.

 

Summary of events

 

  1. The landlord wrote to the resident sometime in 2019, to notify them that they would not be awarded the responsible tenant award for that year. The resident requested an appeal of this decision.

 

  1. The landlord responded to the appeal request on 17 February 2020 and upheld its decision to not pay the award. It explained the reason for its decision was because the resident had missed two electrical appointments in the last 12 months, on 28 February 2019 and 4 March 2019. The landlord informed the resident that if they remained unhappy with its decision, they could approach this Service.

 

  1. The resident’s representative referred the complaint to this Service on 28 February 2020. They explained that prior to 2019, the resident had regularly received the award. They said that the two appointments were missed because the resident has severe obsessive compulsive disorder and Asperger’s, which the landlord is aware of. The representative noted that there were no issues with the resident’s electrics and that they had a very limited number of appliances in the property.

 

  1. Through communications with the representative and the resident, it was established that the resident wanted the landlord to pay the award from 2019, send a letter of apology and offer compensation for the time it had taken to resolve the complaint.

 

  1. We wrote to the landlord with the details of the outcomes the resident was seeking. It confirmed that to resolve the complaint, it would pay the award from 2019, send a letter of apology to the resident and agreed to pay them £150 for the time taken to resolve the complaint. It issued the letter of apology to the resident on 30 July 2021 and sent a copy to this Service.

 

  1. We wrote to the resident and their representative and confirmed that to resolve the complaint, the landlord had agreed to pay the award from 2019, compensate them £150 and had issued a letter of apology.

Assessment and findings

  1. The complaint was referred to this Service because the resident was not happy that the landlord had not paid the responsible tenant award from 2019.
  2. Through correspondence with the representative and the resident, this Service was informed that to resolve the complaint, the resident wanted the landlord to:
  1. Pay the award from 2019;
  2. Issue a letter of apology; and
  3. Offer compensation for the time taken to resolve the issue and the inconvenience caused.
  1. Following this Service’s intervention, the landlord acknowledged the inconvenience and distress caused to the resident as a result of the payment not being made on the grounds of access. It has confirmed that the notes concerning the resident’s vulnerabilities are on its records to avoid issues with the payment of the award on the grounds of access in future.
  2. The landlord reviewed its position and paid the award from 2019 to the resident’s rent account. Furthermore, it has sent the resident a letter of apology and offered compensation to the resident for the time taken to resolve the matter.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 55 of the Scheme, the landlord has made an offer of redress following the Ombudsman’s intervention, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint satisfactorily.

Reasons

  1. Following our intervention, the landlord took into consideration the resident’s concerns and outcomes they were seeking and offered a proportionate resolution. It paid the resident the award from 2019, recognised the time taken to resolve the complaint and offered a separate compensation amount for this and issued a letter of apology to the resident. Moreover, it confirmed that as a result of the resident’s complaint, it has ensured it had a record of the resident’s vulnerabilities, so that a similar issue would not likely reoccur again.
  2. The resolution it offered was in line with this Service’s dispute resolution principles of being fair, putting things right and learning from outcomes. Its agreement to pay the award from 2019, restored the resident to the position they would have been had the complaint issue not occurred. Its offer of compensation and apology letter took into consideration the resident’s efforts to try and resolve the matter. The updating of its records also alleviated the likelihood of the issue recurring. The resolutions it offered were therefore proportionate.

Recommendations

  1. It is recommended that the landlord contact the resident within three weeks, for the relevant details, so that it can make the payment of £150. Once the landlord has paid the resident, it should confirm to this Service.