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Aspire Housing Limited (202323850)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202323850

Aspire Housing Limited

31 July 2024


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 is about the landlord’s handling of various repairs within the property.

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

Summary of events

  1. The resident is an assured tenant who has lived at the property since May 2022. The property is a 3 bedroom semi-detached house. The resident has a range of vulnerabilities, including mobility issues, diabetes, personality disorder and Gilles de la Tourette’s syndrome.
  2. The resident corresponded with the Ombudsman during 2023 in relation to a complaint concerning noise nuisance and a tree in his garden (case reference 202226247). Within the correspondence, the resident complained that the landlord was not doing anything to address the following issues in the property:
    1. Recurrent leaks with ceilings, walls and carpets damaged as a result.
    2. Damp and mould.
    3. Inadequate ventilation in the upstairs of the property.
    4. The bathroom was in poor condition and needed to be replaced.
    5. The walls required replastering.
    6. The walls required insulation to reduce noise transference and needed to be replaced throughout the property. The resident indicated this was on the advice of the landlord’s sound surveyor who inspected the walls in August 2023 as part of the landlord’s investigation into the above mentioned noise complaint.
  3. The Ombudsman asked the landlord to formally respond to these repair issues through its complaints process.
  4. The landlord issued a stage 1 response on 12 April 2024. It said that it had attended to all the repairs and that it was satisfied there were no outstanding jobs. In relation to the walls, the landlord indicated that it would not be undertaking any structural alterations. It said the levels of insultation were to be expected in the property given its age and that measures to improve this would have little to no impact on sound transfer or thermal efficiency.
  5. The resident was not satisfied with the stage 1 response. The landlord therefore provided a stage 2 response on 22 April 2024. It upheld the stage 1 findings. It said that the resident had been reasonably compensated in relation to the repairs through previous complaint responses in 2023 and the settlement of a claim for items of furniture damaged by a contractor.
  6. The resident indicated when escalating the complaint that he had been given a summary of the sound survey report, rather than the full report, and that the copy he was provided with had been “doctored fraudulently”. The landlord refuted this in the stage 2 response and advised that he had been provided with a copy of the full report received by it, with only the contractor details redacted.
  7. The resident remained unhappy with the landlord’s response and asked the Ombudsman to investigate.

Reasons

  1. While the serious nature of the resident’s concerns are acknowledged, paragraph 41.c of the Scheme states that the Ombudsman cannot consider complaints which are the subject of court proceedings. When responding to our request for information, the landlord advised the Ombudsman that the resident has submitted numerous civil claims against it, its contractors and its employees. This includes an ongoing civil claim brought against the landlord on 24 August 2023.
  2. The particulars of the civil claim, as stated on the claim form, relate to noise nuisance and repairs. In relation to the noise nuisance, the particulars include that the landlord did not take any action in relation to the walls further to the sound survey report. In relation to repairs, the particulars state that the landlord has left the property in a state of disrepair in breach of the tenancy agreement and statutory obligations. Various repair issues are referenced on the claim form, including leaks, cavity wall insultation, damp and mould, damage to ceilings, walls and carpets, and repairs within the bathroom.
  3. The resident’s dissatisfaction with the landlord and its response to his concerns is noted. However, all the repair issues raised in the complaint are included in the ongoing civil claim. It therefore follows that based on the evidence that has been provided to this Service, the complaints that have been referred to this Service fall outside of our jurisdiction.