London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) (202118322)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202118322

London & Quadrant Housing Trust

01 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:
   1. The level of rent charged by the landlord for the property.
   2. The landlord’s response to the resident’s request to be rehoused or to buy her home.
   3. The landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Jurisdiction

2. 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.
3. After carefully considering all the evidence, it is determined that the following complaint, as set out above, is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction, in accordance with paragraph 42(e) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme:
   1. The level of rent charged by the landlord for the property.
4. Paragraph 42(e) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states that the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which “concern the level of rent or service charge or the amount of the rent or service charge increase”. Complaints relating to the level, reasonableness, or liability to pay rent or service charges are within the jurisdiction of the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) and the resident would be advised to seek independent legal advice in relation to how to proceed with a case.

Background

5. The resident is a tenant of the landlord and holds an assured tenancy. She lives in a two-bedroomed property occupied by two adults and three children. The landlord does not have any recorded vulnerabilities for the resident.
6. The resident raised a stage one complaint with the landlord on 1 June 2022 as she had been attempting to carry out a mutual exchange, but 30 offers of an exchange had not completed due to her rent being considerably higher than the rents of the prospective exchangers. This led to her being unable to alleviate the overcrowding in her home by moving to a larger property. The resident wanted the landlord to either reconsider the level of her rent or assist her with rehousing.
7. The landlord issued its stage one complaint response to the resident on 18 February 2022 in which it confirmed that she held an affordable rent tenancy and it could not reduce her rent. It acknowledged that she was overcrowded and explained that it had closed its internal transfer bidding system due to a lack of properties. The landlord directed her to two home swapping services and the local authority housing register.
8. The resident escalated her complaint to the final stage on 21 February 2022 as she sought more assistance from the landlord in helping her to move. After she chased the landlord twice and sought the Ombudsman’s intervention, it spoke to her on 17 June 2022 and issued its final stage complaint response to her on 14 July 2022. In its response to the resident, it noted that she was registered with home swapping services and the local authority for a new property. It confirmed that her rent would remain the same and considered that it had responded appropriately to her in its previous response. The landlord acknowledged the delay in issuing its final response and offered £100 compensation for this.
9. The resident contacted the Ombudsman on 28 October 2022 to explain that her complaint was not about the level of the rent but about the lack of options available to her for rehousing and the lack of support from the landlord in assisting her with a move.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s response to the resident’s request to be rehoused or to buy her home

10. The landlord’s allocations and lettings policy states that when it receives contact from a resident for advice on rehousing it “will provide an assessment of their circumstances and present them with a range of options which are appropriate to their needs”. These options may include mutual exchanges, application to the local authority housing register, mobility schemes, private rented sector, shared ownership or a direct offer through its rehousing list.
11. The landlord’s allocations and lettings policy also states that direct offers of rehousing may be offered to a resident in certain circumstances. These circumstances include when “the household is severely overcrowded and has a medical condition or disability which is impacted by the overcrowding”.
12. The landlord’s stage one and final complaint responses referred the resident to home exchange websites and the local authority to seek rehousing. However, it did not respond to her enquiry about the possibility of purchasing her property through the Right to Acquire scheme. This was not specified in the resident’s complaint escalation requests but was raised when the landlord called her on 17 June 2022 to discuss the complaint. While there was no evidence provided of whether the resident was eligible for this scheme or not, it would have been helpful for the landlord to clarify this in its final response.
13. Additionally, there was no evidence that the landlord carried out an assessment of the resident’s household’s circumstances. As specified in the allocations and lettings policy above, it may consider a direct offer of rehousing if the severity of overcrowding and the impact of this on the household’s health merited it. While the landlord did not have a record of any vulnerabilities present in the household, it should have carried out an assessment of this based on current information to ensure that all appropriate options were considered.
14. Therefore, the landlord failed to address all options which may have been relevant to the resident. It should have taken the opportunity to address these in its complaints responses to clarify the situation and provide certainty to the resident. This may have aided the resident in making informed decisions on her next steps and averted the need to bring the complaint to this Service. Consequently, compensation of £100 should be paid to the resident. This award is in accordance with the Ombudsman remedies guidance, available to view online, which provides for awards of compensation between £50 and £100 for failures which had an adverse effect on the resident but which may not have had a significant impact on the overall outcome for her.

The landlord’s handling of the associated complaint

15. The landlord’s complaints policy provides for a two-stage internal complaints procedure. At stage one of this procedure, it should provide a written response to the resident within ten working days; at the final stage it should issue a written response within 20 working days. If the landlord is unable to provide its written response within the timeframes specified, it should explain why and write again within ten working days.
16. The landlord issued its final stage complaint response to the resident on 14 July 2022, 99 working days after she escalated her complaint on 21 February 2022. This was an excessive delay which resulted in the expenditure of time and trouble for the resident in chasing the complaint on 5 and 22 April 2022, and in seeking the intervention of the Ombudsman on 16 June 2022. This also caused the resident inconvenience as the delayed final response prevented her from bringing the complaint to the Ombudsman for consideration sooner.
17. The landlord acknowledged this delay in its final response and offered £100 compensation for this. This offer was broadly in accordance with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance, available to view online, and was proportionate for the acknowledged delay in responding to the complaint at the final stage.
18. However, the landlord did not fully acknowledge the delay which occurred at stage one of the complaints procedure. The resident raised her stage one complaint on 5 January 2022 and was required to chase the landlord for a response on 12 February 2022, before it provided the stage one complaint response on 18 February 2022. This was a period of 32 working days which was in excess of the ten-working-day timeframe specified in its complaints policy.
19. The landlord’s stage one response acknowledged the lateness of the response and apologised for this. However, this did not serve as adequate redress for the significant delay in responding which would have led to frustration and uncertainty for the resident. Therefore, the compensation offered by the landlord for its handling of the complaint should be increased from £100 to £150 overall to proportionately recognise the delays and its failure to adhere to its complaints policy.

Determination

20. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in:
    1. Its response to the resident’s request to be rehoused or to buy her home.
    2. Its handling of the associated complaint. 

Orders

21. The landlord should:
    1. Pay the resident compensation of £250 broken down as follows:
       1. £100 for its failures in considering the resident’s request for rehousing.
       2. £150 for the delays in its complaint responses. This is inclusive of the £100 it previously offered her in its final stage complaint response.
    2. Write to the resident to clarify her eligibility for purchasing her property through the Right to Acquire scheme and whether she is eligible for rehousing under its allocations and lettings procedure.
    3. Review its complaint handling procedures and confirm to the Ombudsman what steps it will take to ensure that all points of a complaint are addressed fully and that complaints are handled in accordance with its policy.
    4. Confirm to the Ombudsman within four weeks that it has complied with the above orders.