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Southwark Council (201901217)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 201901217

Southwark Council

31 March 2022


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:
    1. Repairs and the resident’s insurance claims for costs and damages to their property and contents following a leak.

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. The resident contacted this Service in 2019 to raise concerns over the landlord’s handling of repairs and their insurance claims following a leak from the flat above in 2011.
  2. Following contact from the Housing Ombudsman, the landlord informed the resident in its stage one complaint response (4 September 2019) that it could not investigate his complaint about the leak from the flat above as it had occurred so long ago. It noted the resident had also complained via the Ombudsman in 2017 and received advice about how to pursue the insurance claims. With respect to his insurance claims in 2019, the landlord explained he had been in touch with its insurance team earlier that year and it had asked him to provide supporting information.
  3. The resident remained dissatisfied and stated the landlord had not provided him with the relevant forms to claim for compensation for damage to his property and contents.
  4. The resident contacted the Ombudsman again in May 2020. The resident had not escalated their September 2019 complaint. The landlord responded to the resident on 26 May 2020 to confirm that he needed to contact its insurers to progress his public liability insurance claim, as it had identified “outstanding issues” with his claim. It also reiterated that his buildings insurance claim was rejected by the insurers as the loss had occurred prior to its start date.
  5. The landlord’s final stage complaint response, on 9 June 2021, reiterated that it would not be investigating his complaint as part of its complaints policy as the outstanding concerns were about the insurance claim, and concerned an incident from too long ago.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 39(e) 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 six months of the matters arising”.
  2. The resident’s complaint is about a leak which had occurred in 2011, and its handling of his subsequent insurance claim. The landlord has maintained throughout its complaints procedure that, in line with its complaints policy, it would not consider as a complaint as it related to a historical leak.
  3. The resident received advice about how to pursue the claim in 2017 and 2019. However the resident did not provide evidence to the landlord that they had responded to the insurance team’s request for information at the time. The resident did not then pursue their September 2019 formal complaint until May 2020, again over the 6 month period.
  4. It was reasonable for the landlord to say in 2017, 2019 and 2020 that it would not investigate repairs from 2011-2014. If the resident was unhappy about the service at the time they could have complained or contacted the Ombudsman at the time.
  5. It was also reasonable for the landlord to not respond to the complaint in 2020, given it had show the resident correspondence where they were asked to provide more information in 2017 and 2019, but the resident did not appear to have replied. Furthermore it was reasonable not to respond to the complaint in June 2020 given the delay from the complaint in September 2019.
  6. The landlord is not responsible for the insurers’ decisions. Equally any dispute about the insurers’ processes and decision would be for the resident to raise directly with them and their regulator.