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Thames Valley Housing Association Limited (202118215)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202118215

Thames Valley Housing Association Limited

27 March 2023

 

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 complaint is about the delays in the resident’s move to a new property owned by the landlord.

Background

  1. The resident was an applicant for the property. The landlord offered the property to the resident in February 2021.
  2. In February, March and April 2021, the resident sent various update requests to the landlord. She asked for an update on viewing the property. The landlord responded and stated that it would not receive handover of the property from the developer until April 2021. It stated it had asked the developer if a viewing could take place in the meantime.
  3. In May and June 2021, the resident emailed the landlord with several update requests about the handover of the property. The landlord responded and provided a timeline from the developer for the completion of the outstanding works. As part of the timeline, it stated that the handover would take place between 8-9 July 2021.
  4. On 6 July 2021, the resident submitted a complaint to the landlord. She stated that she was told that the property would be ready in February/March 2021. She said that she was staying in a single room with her young baby. The resident was unhappy with the lack of communication and information provided by the landlord.
  1. On 20 July 2021, the landlord provided its stage one complaint response. In its response, it acknowledged and apologised for the length of time the resident had waited to receive information about the move. As a resolution, it offered £50 compensation for the time and trouble.
  2. During July and August 2021, the resident sent further update requests to the landlord. The landlord stated that it was now in contact with the developers’ managing director to push things forward. The developer also emailed the resident and stated that the works were on schedule for completion within the next six to eight weeks. The landlord booked the resident in for an appointment to view the property on 20 July.
  3. On 14 August 2021, the landlord provided its stage two complaint response. The landlord stated that there had been delays due to the developer not completing snagging issues. It also stated that the developer provided it with completion dates, yet it has not met any of these timeframes. Furthermore, it stated that they did provide the resident with regular updates about the move. However, the developer kept changing the dates that had been agreed. In resolution of the complaint, the landlord offered the following:
    1. £200 for failure of service
    2. £100 for time and trouble
    3. £397.97 for the reimbursement of the resident’s storage costs from 8 March 2021 until 19 September 2021. The reimbursement also included insurance costs for the storage.

The landlord also stated that it would reimburse any further storage costs on receipt of an invoice.

  1. In September and October 2021, the resident emailed the landlord with several further update requests. The landlord provided an update and stated that snagging works were still under completion. It stated it should be looking at the middle of October 2021 for a handover.
  2. In November and December 2021, the resident sent several further requests for an update on the handover of the property. The landlord responded and stated that the developer had given a commitment to complete the apartments by December 2021. It also stated that the final home demo on the site would be on 6/7 January 2022.
  3. In February 2022, the landlord told the resident that the outstanding fire work had been signed off. The resident signed the tenancy agreement for the property and collected the keys in February 2022.
  4. The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and submitted her complaint to the Ombudsman. She stated her desired outcome is for the landlord to provide future tenants with factual information about delays in moving.

Assessment and findings

  1. The landlord’s letting policy states that one of its commitments is that it will ensure lettings are undertaken as quickly and efficiently as possible.
  2. The resident was first offered the property in February 2021. She then moved into the property one year later, which was in February 2022. The length of time taken for the resident to move in was unreasonable and not in line with the landlord’s letting policy. However, it is acknowledged that the delays to the move were due to the developer. It is evident that there were issues with the developer meeting its planned deadlines. There were also fire safety issues which needed resolving and signing off before the resident could move in. So, it is evident that the delays caused were somewhat outside of the landlord’s control, although the delays clearly caused significant inconvenience to the resident.
  3. Whilst the resident was waiting to move into the property, she requested various updates from the landlord. The landlord responded to the resident and provided several updates. It also held regular meetings with the developer to get an idea of the outstanding works. Overall, the level of communication provided by the landlord was reasonable. It is also evident that the landlord updated the resident when it received new information from the developer about the status of the property.
  4. The landlord acknowledged and apologised in its stage one response to the resident, for the length of time the resident had waited to receive information about the move. As a resolution, it offered £50 compensation. The landlord also explained in its stage two response that there had been delays to the move, due to outstanding work by the developer. However, the developer kept changing dates that had been agreed. To resolve the complaint, the landlord offered £300 compensation. It also offered to reimburse the resident’s storage costs between March and September 2021, which totalled £397.97. Furthermore, the landlord also offered to reimburse any further storage costs upon receipt of an invoice.
  5. The compensation offered to the resident was in line with the landlord’s compensation policy. The landlord’s compensation policy states that for a medium failure it awards compensation of £51 and upwards. Then, for a high failure, it awards compensation of £151 and upwards. The compensation offered was also compliant with the Ombudsman’s Remedies Guidance, (published on our website) which sets out the Ombudsman’s approach to compensation. The Remedies Guidance suggests awards of £100 to £600 where there has been a failure which adversely affected the resident but there was no permanent impact. In the Ombudsman’s opinion, the compensation proportionately reflected the impact of the delays on the resident, and it amounts to reasonable redress in this case.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 53 (b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has made an offer of reasonable redress prior to investigation, which in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint about the delays in the resident’s move to a new property owned by the landlord satisfactorily.

Recommendations

  1. It is recommended that the landlord pay the resident its original offer in its stage one and two responses of £350 in compensation if it has not already done so.
  2. It is recommended that the landlord pay the £397.97 reimbursement of storage costs if it has not already done so. Also, as stated in its stage two response, the landlord should reimburse any further storage costs that the resident incurred due to delays in moving if it has not already done so.