Innisfree Housing Association Limited (202112421)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202112421

Innisfree Housing Association Limited

18 August 2022


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 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 complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of antisocial behaviour (ASB) from a neighbour.

Background and summary of events

  1. The resident is a tenant of the landlord of a flat in a sheltered housing scheme with communal rooms and facilities. He is 81 years old and has physical and mental health conditions.
  2. The resident has reported historic incidents of ASB from his neighbour since 2020, for which the landlord previously warned the neighbour. He reported further cases of ASB from the neighbour on 20 August 2021, when he and another resident described their bullying behaviour, verbally threatening and antagonising him, while refusing to let him leave the communal areas of the property peacefully. The resident raised concerns that the situation would escalate, that he felt unsafe and that he wanted immediate support for this.
  3. The landlord therefore advised the resident on 20 August 2021 to keep incident logs and to report any ASB from the neighbour to it, urging him to call the police if he felt unsafe or in immediate danger. It also passed his ASB report of that date to its relevant staff to action, and it suggested that they attend the property in the following week to see this for themselves.
  4. The landlord then reported back to the resident on 16 September 2021, after it had spoken to him, its relevant staff and his neighbour. It stated that his accounts of recent altercations with the neighbour had been conflicting after speaking to them, and that no further evidence had been provided to allow it to take enforcement action against the neighbour. The landlord therefore agreed to continue to monitor the situation alongside its relevant staff, to review any further evidence provided by the resident, and it repeated its previous advice to him to report any concerns for his safety to the police. It added that he could seek further support from it and independent advice from other agencies, such as the citizens advice bureau, the local authority and the police.
  5. On 5 November 2021, the landlord confirmed to the resident that, following further communication about his case, there was still insufficient evidence for it to enforce any further action against his neighbour, and that it would check in with him once every two weeks to monitor any further instances of ASB. He had previously contacted this Service to ask us to intervene in his case, for which he sought for an ASB order to be placed on the neighbour. The resident then followed our advice to raise a stage one complaint with the landlord via this Service on 22 December 2021, requesting that it evict or transfer the neighbour elsewhere.
  6. The landlord issued its stage one complaint response on 10 January 2022. It highlighted that there had been no further reports of ASB submitted to it by the resident, and that there was no evidence to support his requests for eviction or enforcement action to be taken against the neighbour at that time, for which it reiterated its previous advice to him. He then reported a fresh incident of the neighbour coughing towards him to the landlord on 11 January 2022, and it acknowledged a final stage complaint from him about its handling of his ASB reports about the neighbour on 21 January 2022.
  7. In the landlord’s final stage complaint response to the resident on 16 February 2022, it confirmed its previous findings that there had not been any further ASB incidents from his neighbour in recent months, for which it determined that it had followed its policies. However, it added that it would continue to monitor the situation for another two to three months by checking in with him at least once a month, as well as by holding review discussions about all of its ASB cases every two weeks.
  8. The resident reported to this Service that experienced at least three additional ASB altercations from his neighbour between August 2021 and June 2022. He also complained about the landlord’s handling of his reports of ASB, for which he still sought for it to either evict or transfer the neighbour elsewhere.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident has raised concerns regarding historic incidents of ASB from his neighbour since 2020, and the landlord’s handling of these. However, in accordance with the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the Ombudsman will not consider complaints that were not brought to the attention of the landlord as a formal complaint within a reasonable period of normally within six-months of the matters arising. Therefore, the scope of this investigation is limited to considering the landlord’s handling of the events in the resident’s case from August 2021 onwards, with this being within six months of his formal complaint to it about this in December 2021.
  2. The resident has also requested that an ASB order be placed on his neighbour, and for the eviction or transfer of the neighbour to another property, as the outcome to his complaint. In accordance with the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, however, we will not investigate complaints concerning matters where the resident is seeking an outcome that is not within our authority to provide. Therefore, we are unable to consider the resident’s request for the landlord to obtain an ASB order against or to move or evict the neighbour, as we do not have authority to recommend or order the legal action against individuals necessary to do so in the way that a court might.

The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of ASB from a neighbour

  1. It is of concern that the resident reported experiencing ASB from his neighbour. However, the role of the Ombudsman is not to establish whether the ASB that he reported was occurring or not, as we do not have the authority or expertise to do so in the way that a court might. Our role is instead to establish whether the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of ASB was in line with its legal and policy obligations and therefore fair in all the circumstances of the case.
  2. The landlord’s ASB policy states that, upon receiving an ASB report, it will take a risk-based approach and look at both formal and informal actions such as mediation, encouraging residents to work together to resolve issues. It specifies that, in cases where a serious violent or criminal act has occurred, it will not offer mediation. When gathering evidence, the landlord will support tenants to gather evidence that will be useful so that, should the ASB continue, enforcement action for this can be considered, including by keeping incident logs and engaging with other services such as the police. It states that it will refer all crimes, including threats or acts of violence, to the police, and that it will work with them to achieve a fair outcome for all parties involved.
  3. Following the resident’s reports of ASB from his neighbour from 20 August 2021 onwards, the landlord acted appropriately by responding to these in accordance with its ASB policy. It did so by opening an ASB case for them on that date, advising him to keep incident logs, urging him to call the police if he felt unsafe or in immediate danger, and passing his reports to its relevant staff to action and attend the property to investigate in the following week. This was in line with the policy’s requirements for the landlord to encourage evidence-gathering by the resident via incident logs and the police, and to refer his reports of threats from the neighbour to the latter.
  4. While the resident reported to this Service that there were at least three further instances of ASB from the neighbour towards him between August 2021 and June 2022, it wrote to him on 16 September 2021 advising that it had insufficient evidence for enforcement or legal action. It explained that it had found this after investigating his reports with him, its relevant staff and his neighbour, instead agreeing to monitor this via its staff and review any further evidence from him. The landlord also referred the resident to the police for any safety concerns, to it for further support, and to the citizens advice bureau, the local authority and the police for independent advice, as recommended by the ASB policy, which was appropriate.
  5. Following further communication from the resident about his case, the landlord confirmed to him on 5 November 2021 that, as it still had insufficient evidence to take more action against the neighbour, it would check in with him once every two weeks to monitor for any further ASB incidents. Therefore, it continued to respond to the insufficient evidence for it to take further action against the neighbour for ASB appropriately, by highlighting the need for further evidence to enable it to do so and arranging to seek this via additional monitoring. It was also reasonable that the landlord did not try and resolve the resident’s reports of ASB from the neighbour with mediation at that time, as he had reported experiencing threats from them that were unsuitable for mediation under its ASB policy.
  6. The landlord’s complaint responses of 10 January and 16 February 2022 added that it had not received any further reports of recent ASB incidents by the neighbour from the resident, or any evidence to suggest that legal action could be enforced against them. It also highlighted that this meant that it could not take action to seek the eviction or transfer of the neighbour, as requested by the resident, which would be a last resort under its ASB policy and due to its homes being a limited resource. Although the landlord agreed to review the ASB for another three months, with a monthly check in with him and fortnightly ASB case review discussions.
  7. For the landlord to take more formal action against the neighbour regarding ASB under its policy, such as written warnings, injunctions and eviction proceedings, it required extensive evidence of the alleged behaviour that showed that this had a substantial effect, with all other reasonable attempts at intervention having failed to change the behaviour. These are legal matters that it would also have been expected to have demonstrated to the court with sufficient evidence, which it explained that it did not have in the resident’s case, and so it was reasonable that it did not pursue this at the time but instead sought further evidence to enable it to do so.
  8. In light of the lack of sufficient evidence being submitted to enable further action to be taken, the landlord followed its ASB policy and acted appropriately in response to the resident’s reports of ASB from the neighbour. It therefore also took appropriate steps to gain further evidence of the ASB by asking him for incident logs and referring him to the police and other appropriate bodies for further assistance. Ultimately, there was insufficient evidence to pursue any further action, and so the landlord continuing to monitor the situation for this was reasonable given these circumstances. It has therefore been recommended below to update the resident on this and to consider offering him mediation instead.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration by the landlord in respect of its response to the resident’s reports of ASB from a neighbour.

Recommendations

  1. It is recommended that the landlord:
    1. Contact the resident to provide him with an update on its monitoring of ASB from his neighbour, and the level of evidence required by it to take more formal action in his case.
    2. Consider the suitability of currently offering the resident mediation to try and resolve his ASB case, and provide him with the outcome of its consideration.