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Clarion Housing Association Limited (202207792)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202207792

Clarion Housing Association Limited

27 July 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 landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for communal lighting credits, and the associated complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident holds an assured tenancy for a ground floor flat, which began in 2007, with the landlord who is a housing association.
  2. The resident lives in a block of flats, which has one light and a smoke detector within the communal hallway. As the block does not have a separate meter for the communal electricity, it is routed through the resident’s personal meter. In previous years, the landlord’s IT system allowed for weekly lighting credits payments to be applied to a sub-account which would then be paid directly to the resident.
  3. On 21 March 2022, the resident contacted the landlord to discuss the lighting credits, as she had noticed from her rent statement that she had not received them for the year 2021/2022. On 5 April 2022 the landlord emailed the resident and explained that it had changed the way in which it processed the lighting credits in November 2019 due to a system upgrade, however due to some complications with the process, it was stopped in April 2021. The landlord also explained that it was looking into a permanent fix, and that she should receive an update in July 2022.
  4. On 22 April 2022, the resident responded to landlord and expressed her dissatisfaction with the response, the resident said that she was frustrated that the issue had remained unresolved for so long and if she had not checked her rent account she would not have known that the process had stopped as the landlord had not informed her of the situation. The resident requested that her email be forwarded to the complaints team.
  5. On 13 July 2022, the resident chased the landlord for a response to her complaint and also contacted this Service for assistance with progressing her complaint through the landlord’s internal complaints process.
  6. On 17 August 2022, the landlord contacted the resident to confirm the details of her complaint. The resident said that she had been trying to get a response from the landlord for a number of months regarding the lighting credits for the year 2021/2022 and that to resolve her complaint she was seeking £400 compensation and her outstanding lighting credits to be reimbursed. The resident also said that she wanted the landlord to reimburse her £2 per week for 2022/2023 and £4 per week for 2023/2024 for the lighting credits.
  7. The landlord provided its stage one response on 3 October 2022, where it confirmed that the resident was due £255.83 in lighting credit and future costs would be reimbursed at £1.68 per week for 2022/23. It also offered the resident £250 compensation for the length of time it took to resolve the issue.
  8. On 5 October 2022 although the resident agreed with the majority of the response, she did not agree that the rate for 2022/23 reflected the price hikes made earlier that year and requested her complaint be escalated to stage two. She also confirmed on 21 October 2022 that she was not happy that the landlord could not pay her the money which was owed to her.
  9. On 6 October 2022 the landlord wrote to all residents who were affected by the process being halted in 2021 and confirmed that residents were due an amount of £255.83, and although due to a cyber attack it could not make any reimbursements, it would be in touch. It also provided a detailed ‘frequently asked questions’ document and confirmed that it would be paying for a separate meter to be installed in the future.
  10. On 18 November 2022 the landlord provided its final response to the resident, where it gave an explanation as to how it had calculated the weekly lighting credits rate based on one communal fire detector and light within the building. It confirmed that based on the running costs of the light and fire detector, the amount it had agreed to reimburse each week was more than the running costs.
  11. On 21 November 2022 the resident contacted this Service as she remained dissatisfied that the landlord was unable to provide her with any confirmation of when it would reimburse her the money owed.
  12. The landlord also provided this Service with an update, dated 8 February 2023, where it wrote to all residents who were affected by the process being halted in 2021 and confirmed that residents were due £403.81 (for the period of April 2021 until October 2023) and that a 37% uplift had been applied to the weekly charge for 2023/2024.
  13. Furthermore, on 18 July 2023 the resident informed this Service that although the landlord provided her with a cheque for £403.81, it had also taken this amount from her rent account.

Assessment and findings

  1. The Ombudsman’s role is to determine complaints by reference to what is fair in all the circumstances and decide if the landlord is responsible for maladministration or service failure.
  2. When investigating a complaint, the Ombudsman applies its dispute resolution principles. These are high level good practice guidance developed from the Ombudsman’s experience of resolving disputes, for use by everyone involved in the complaints process. There are only three principles driving effective dispute resolution:
    1. Be fair – treat people fairly and follow fair processes.
    2. put things right, and.
    3. learn from outcomes.
  3. The landlord does not have a policy specifically related to the communal lighting credits but is expected to deal with queries from residents in a timely manner.
  4. The landlord’s interim complaint policy, effective from 17 June 2022, states that it operates a two stage complaints process. The policy states that when a complaint is made, it must be acknowledged and logged at stage one of the complaints procedure within ten working days of receipt, a response will be provided within 20 working days and stage two complaints, also known as a peer review, will be responded to within 40 working days.
  5. It is unclear what steps the landlord took to inform it’s residents about the issues it was experiencing with its lighting credits process in April 2021 as no information has been provided. However, when the resident contacted the landlord in March 2022 with her query, it provided her with a detailed response of what had happened and that it should be able to provide a further update in July 2022.
  6. Whilst the landlord’s response was clear and explained the issue it had experienced, the resident confirmed within her email dated 23 April 2022 that she wanted to raise a complaint as she remained dissatisfied with the length of time that the lighting credits were outstanding. No complaint was logged, and as such the landlord failed to follow its own complaint policy.
  7. It was not until 13 July 2022 when the resident contacted the landlord and this Service as she had not received any confirmation that a stage one complaint had been logged. This Service asked the landlord to provide a response by 2 August 2022.
  8. Whilst the landlord failed to provide a stage one response within its published timescales, this Service acknowledges that the landlord was subject to a cyber attack in July 2022 which affected the its IT systems and caused significant issues, including the landlord’s ability to provide a response. Information also confirms that and there was also an IT issue between this Service and the landlord which may have also impacted the timescale the resident encountered.
  9. The landlord provided its stage one response on 3 October 2022, where it confirmed the amount the resident was due for lighting credits but was unable to make the payment due to issues relating to the cyber attack. It further offered £250 compensation to the resident for the delay in providing a response to her complaint and in recognition of the time and trouble she had experienced when chasing a response regarding the lighting credits. This response was reasonable in itself, but as the landlord was unable to make any payments to the resident, did not resolve her complaint.
  10. The resident escalated her complaint as she remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s calculations for the amount it would reimburse her in 2022/23. Information provided shows that the landlord took appropriate action to investigate the resident’s stage two complaint, by asking the resident to confirm what items were in the communal hallway and copies of her electricity bill so it could accurately review the amount it would reimburse. The landlord provided the resident with a stage two response, within its published timescales, which demonstrated that it had listened to the resident and explained how it felt the amount and was fair. Following the response, the resident referred her complaint to this Service as she remained dissatisfied that the landlord was unable to provide her with a date of when she would be refunded.
  11. The landlord has provided this Service with further information to demonstrate how it had been communicating with its residents who were affected by the process stopping and who were due a refund relating to the communal lighting credits. The Ombudsman acknowledges that the letters dated 6 October 2022 and 8 February 2023, were clear and informative. The letters also detailed that the landlord was still not in a position to reimburse residents due to the cyber attack.
  12. It was understandable that the landlord was in an unfortunate position where it was unable to process payments to residents due to the cyber attack, and this Service also acknowledges the difficulties that the landlord faced. Whilst this was a mitigating factor in the delay the resident experienced, it ultimately had an adverse effect on the resident as she had paid for the communal electricity out of her own pocket and had to wait an unreasonable amount of time to be reimbursed. This amounts to service failure and will attract a level of compensation to put things right for the resident.
  13. In assessing an appropriate level of compensation, the Ombudsman takes into account a range of factors including any distress and inconvenience caused by the issues, the amount of time and effort expended on pursuing the matter with the landlord, and the level of detriment caused by the landlord’s acts and/or omissions. It considers whether any redress is proportionate to the severity of the failing by the landlord and the impact on the resident. The Ombudsman also takes into account the evidence that has been provided.
  14. Ultimately the Ombudsman considers what would be fair and proportionate. The aim of compensation is not to be punitive, but to provide redress for the impact of any failings by the landlord on the resident. In the case of compensation for distress and inconvenience, we are not able to quantify a definitive loss and the intention of such an award is to recognise the overall distress and inconvenience suffered by the resident.
  15. The Ombudsman has first considered the distress and inconvenience suffered by the resident as a result of the having to chase the landlord for details relating to her entitlement to lighting credits and the time and trouble she experienced in progressing her complaint through the internal complaints process. In line with the Ombudsman’s remedy guidance where there has been a failure which had an impact on the resident, which has had no permanent impact, an amount of £100 to £600 is recommended.
  16. It is clear from the information provided that it took the landlord an unreasonable amount of time to provide the resident with her lighting credits which she was entitled to and that it failed to acknowledge her stage one complaint in April 2022. This led to the resident having to pursue the landlord for a response for a number of months. Whilst the landlord offered the resident a reasonable amount of £250 for the time and trouble she had incurred as a result of pursuing the matter and the failure to provide a response to her complaint within its documented timescales, the amount did not take into account the additional time it took the landlord to process a refund. In recognition of this, the Ombudsman has made an order for the landlord to pay an additional £200 compensation.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was service failure with the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for communal lighting credits and associated complaint handling.

Orders

  1. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident a total of £450 within four weeks of the date of this report for the reasons identified above. (This includes the £250 it had already offered as part of the stage one complaint response).
  2. The landlord is ordered to review the resident’s rent account within four weeks of the date of the report to ensure that the £403.81 lighting credits refund which was issued in June 2022, has not affected the resident’s rent account balance (and put this right if it has) and provide the resident and this Service with confirmation of this.