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Thanet District Council (202104827)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202104827

Thanet District Council

30 September 2021


Our approach

What we can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and is governed by the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. The Ombudsman must determine whether a complaint comes within their jurisdiction. The Ombudsman seeks to resolve disputes wherever possible but cannot investigate complaints that fall outside of this. 

In deciding whether a complaint falls within their jurisdiction, the Ombudsman will carefully consider all the evidence provided by the parties and the circumstances of the case.

The complaint

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the applicants’ request for rent arrears from 2006 to be written off by the landlord.

Determination (jurisdictional decision)

  1. 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, I have determined that the complaint, as set out above, is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Summary of events

  1. Applicant A is a former tenant of the landlord, applicant B is their son.
  2. This Service has seen information relating to applicant A’s former tenancy in which the landlord informed them of arrears. Other information sent between 2006 and 2020 shows correspondence between applicant A and B in which payment plans for these arrears were discussed.
  3. Applicant A and B recently made a joint application for property to the landlord. This was rejected by the landlord because of applicant A’s arrears on their former tenancy.
  4. Applicant B then brought a complaint as the representative of applicant A, asking that the landlord waive applicant A’s arrears. They explained that applicant A had been forced to leave the property because of domestic violence.
  5. The landlord issued its final response on 20 May 2021. The landlord advised that the debt on the property accrued between July 2006 and December 2006 through non-payment of rent. The landlord advised that applicant A signed a transfer agreement on 15 September 2006 which stated they would be liable for the arrears on the property. The landlord states the applicant B also made payments towards this in August 2006 and September 2006, and contacted its payments team several times between July 2015 and September 2019 to discuss repayments.
  6. Applicant B brought the complaint to this Service on 20 May 2021.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 39e of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states that…

The Ombudsman will not investigate complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, were not brought to the attention of the member as a formal complaint within a reasonable period which would normally be within 6 months of the matters arising;

  1. The complaint concerns a request that the landlord write-off rent arrears on applicant A’s former tenancy. The tenancy ended in 2006 and this Service is satisfied that both applicant A and B were aware of the arrears at the time. Since then, there has been sporadic contact with the landlord between 2006 and 2020 in which the arrears were discussed. I am therefore satisfied that both parties were aware that the arrears existed long before bringing a complaint in 2021.
  2. This Service cannot consider this complaint as it was made more than fourteen years after the applicants became aware of the arrears.
  3. This Service understands that this is likely to be a disappointing outcome for the resident. The impact on the resident of being chased out of their home is not in dispute. The resident may wish to access a range of support services available across Kent and Medway that can provide advice to individuals who have experienced domestic abuse here: Thanet – Domestic Abuse (domesticabuseservices.org.uk)