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Southwark Council (202119990)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202119990

Southwark Council

3 December 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 concerns the landlord’s response to a leak from the property above.

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. On 9 April 2020, the resident submitted a complaint to the landlord. The resident explained that she had been experiencing a leak from the property above which had affected the electricity in their property. The resident explained that the landlord had not responded to their reports about this.
  2. The landlord provided a final response to the complaint on 18 May 2020. It acknowledged that the resident had been living in an uncomfortable position for a prolonged amount of time and stated that the works to remedy the issue had been raised. The landlord accepted that the resident had been inconvenienced by the leak and noted the time taken to progress the complaint which it attributed to miscommunication between departments. The landlord explained that once the works had been completed that it would be in a position to determine whether compensation should be awarded.
  3. On 28 September 2021, the resident referred their complaint to this Service, and provided a copy of the landlord’s final decision on 26 October 2021.

 

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 39d of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states that

“The Ombudsman will not investigate complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, were brought to the Ombudsman’s attention normally more than 12 months after they exhausted the member’s complaints procedure”

  1. As set out above, this service has set timescales to bring a complaint for investigation; it is accepted that as time elapses, it becomes more difficult for both parties to present information and recall events accurately. The Ombudsman considers that twelve months following the issue of the final response is a reasonable period of time to raise a complaint. 
  2. The landlord provided its final response on 18 May 2020, the resident did not provide this Service with a copy of this letter until 26 October 2021, 16 months later. I am therefore satisfied that, in accordance with paragraph 39 (d) of the Scheme, this is not a complaint which the Ombudsman can investigate further.