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Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) (202206376)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202206376

Notting Hill Genesis

28 April 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. This complaint is about the landlord’s refusal to address the resident’s concerns regarding alternative access arrangements for disabled persons when the lift is out of order.

Determination (jurisdiction 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 complainant and his wife are residents of a second-floor wheelchair adapted property.
  2. Both the resident and his wife have mobility issues, the resident’s wife uses a wheelchair, while the resident has use of a walking stick.
  3. On 23 June 2022 the lift in the resident’s building broke down. The lift was out of service from 5pm until 9pm, residents were notified by text of the initial issue and the repair completion.
  4. The resident contacted the landlord on 23 June 2022 and requested it raise a complaint as the lift was out of order.
  5. On 10 August 2022 the landlord provided the resident with a formal response to the complaint. It advised the complaint had not been raised as it was a first request for service and as such excluded from the landlord’s complaint procedure. It confirmed the lift had been repaired within four hours.
  6. On 26 September 2022 the resident emailed the landlord requesting it log a new complaint as the lift is out of order and they have no hot water. The resident also queried disabled access for residents while the lift was out of order.
  7. The landlord formally responded on 27 September 2022, and advised due to an alarm fault the lifts and boilers in the building were out of service for a few minutes before the system was reset. The landlord advised it would not raise a formal complaint but responded to the resident’s concerns as a ‘Quick Fix’ under its complaint procedure. Regarding the lift and hot water, the landlord advised that due to the short time both were out of service, no alert was sent to residents. In the event of an emergency residents will be risk assessed depending on how long the works would take. In the event of a fire or an emergency escape residents would be expected to follow the guidance of the PEEP (Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan) safety plan. The response advised the resident to contact the landlord if he wished it to investigate the issues further.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 41(a) of the Scheme states that ‘The Ombudsman may not consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion: are made prior to having exhausted a member’s complaints procedure, unless there is evidence of a complaint-handling failure, and the Ombudsman is satisfied that the member has not taken action within a reasonable timescale;’.
  2. The resident referred the complaint to this service as he is dissatisfied with the landlord’s lack of response to his concerns regarding disabled access in the event of the lift being inoperable.
  3. As the issue of disabled access in the event of the lift being out of order was not raised in the residents’ initial complaint of 23 June 2022, it was therefore not addressed in the landlord’s formal response to the complaint.
  4. Although the issue was raised as part of the resident’s second complaint in September 2022, the landlord’s ‘Quick Fix’ response gave the resident the opportunity to request the landlord investigate further if he was dissatisfied with the response. As the resident has not requested the landlord investigate the complaint further, the issue has not exhausted the landlord’s complaint procedure and therefore is outside the jurisdiction of this service.

Recommendations

  1. Although the resident did not request the landlord investigate the issue further, following its response of 27 September 2022, it is clear the resident still has concerns regarding disabled access in the event of a lift failure. The Ombudsman therefore recommends that the landlord address the resident’s concerns, by investigating the resident’s complaint of 26 September 2022 at stage one of its complaint procedure. If the resident is unhappy with the landlord’s stage one response he can escalate the complaint further with the landlord, in line with the complaints procedure.