Yorkshire Housing Limited (202200237)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202200237

Yorkshire Housing Limited

23 March 2023

 

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 handling of the sale of the resident’s property to another landlord.

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, it is determined that the complaint, as set out above, is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Summary of events

  1. The resident was a social housing tenant with Yorkshire Living from around 2013. Yorkshire Living sold the development the resident lived in to Impact Housing in 2020.
  2. The resident brought their complaint to the Ombudsman in April 2022 stating that at the time of the sale in 2020 they were not informed by the landlord that the property was not being sold to a social housing landlord, and that they lost rights they had as a social housing tenant, such as the right to acquire and rent increase protection.
  3. In response to the Ombudsman’s request that it should clarify and confirm the status of the resident’s complaint, the landlord provided a copy of a letter it had sent to the resident dated 1 April 2022, stating that it was unable to investigate the complaint because of the length of time that had passed, in line with its complaint policy.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 39(e) of the 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 6 months of the matters arising.
  2. The resident has stated that the property was sold in 2020 and that they raised their complaint concerning the sale in 2022. As the resident did not lodge their complaint with the landlord within six months of the sale complained about, the matter falls outside of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction to investigate.