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Hackney Council (202005750)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202005750

Hackney Council

29 January 2021


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 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 concerns the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of unauthorised items being stored in communal areas.

Background and summary of events

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord.
  2. The resident’s property is a flat situated in a building with other similar properties. The resident’s property is on the third floor and she is unhappy with the items stored in the communal areas on the second floor.

Summary of events

  1. The resident first emailed the landlord about her neighbours incorrectly storing items in communal areas on 3 August 2019, according to its records. The resident advised the landlord that these were not only a fire and safety hazard but also unsightly. Due to staff absence, the landlord did not reply until 3 September 2019. The landlord apologised for the late reply, and advised that it had visited the building on 22 August 2019 and attempted to speak to the resident and the occupiers of the neighbouring flats that had combustible items outside their doors by knocking on their doors.
  2. The landlord advised that it had left call-back cards for the occupiers who were unavailable and that it had sent warning letters regarding fire, health and safety concerns along with the regulations and necessary safety measures. The landlord confirmed that the majority of the occupiers complied with its request; however, there were still a few who were yet to remove their belongings from the communal areas and so it would work closely with residents to address these concerns as part of its ongoing estate inspections.
  3. On 4 September 2019, the resident emailed the landlord to request a copy of the correspondence sent to the other occupiers and to express her dissatisfaction with the amount of time that it took the landlord to respond to her. On 5 September 2019, the resident wrote to the landlord to advise that the issue remained unresolved as her neighbours still had not removed their belongings from the communal areas, including a chair and other clutter.
  4. On 21 January 2020, the resident emailed the landlord to inform it of a new arising issue. The resident was unhappy with the increased level of noise caused by her downstairs neighbours playing loud music. The landlord replied on 23 January 2020 to advise that it had addressed the noise issue with the other occupiers by speaking to one of them and cautioning them against playing loud music. On 6 February 2020, the resident wrote to the landlord again to query if it had managed to make contact with the occupiers responsible for playing loud music and to raise some concerns with a neighbouring block of flats.
  5. On 7 February 2020, the resident wrote to the landlord to make it aware that she had noticed an increased amount of young people “loitering” in the communal areas. She advised that the police were involved on two occasions as they appeared to be armed. The resident advised that she believed that she witnessed a drug transaction between the occupier of a neighbouring flat and the group of people previously mentioned. The landlord informed the resident that this information had been forwarded to its antisocial behaviour team on the same day.
  6. On 30 May 2020, the resident emailed the landlord to inform it of litter that had been incorrectly disposed of on the outside of the building. The landlord acknowledged this on the same day and confirmed that the debris had been removed on 1 June 2020.
  7. On 14 June 2020, the resident contacted the landlord regarding a noise disturbance. The resident advised that an occupier of a neighbouring flat two floors below was listening to music at an unacceptable level, which was bothering residents throughout the building. The resident mentioned that she had approached the neighbour in a calm manner but that they were argumentative and raised their voice. It is noted that this was a different neighbour to the one involved in the noise report raised on 21 January 2020. The resident also mentioned she had raised this with its antisocial behaviour team and that they were investigating as well.
  8. On 16 June 2020, the landlord informed the resident that it had forwarded this issue to the antisocial behaviour team and that it had spoken to the neighbour in question on the same date to warn that noise nuisance was a breach of their tenancy agreement.
  9. On 27 June 2020, the resident emailed the landlord regarding the improperly stored personal belongings. The resident advised that other occupiers now stored bicycles in the communal areas and dried clothes outside or over balconies. The resident expressed her concerns regarding the fire and safety implications of this. The landlord acknowledged and forwarded this to its fire safety team on 29 June 2020. Although previously, between 5 September 2019 and 27 June 2020, there had been no other communication with regard to the storage of unauthorised items in the communal areas.
  10.  The resident wrote to the landlord again on 6 July 2020 to advise that the above issue persisted and that the occupiers of the neighbouring flats kept storing various items in the communal areas. The resident also mentioned that this occurred on just one floor of the building. The landlord replied on the same day and advised that this case was prioritised and that it would be serving notices to the occupiers storing personal belongings in the communal areas, especially the bicycles, that it would remove if they did not. The landlord advised that tenants were allowed to use portable drying racks in the communal areas; however, these were to be moved back into their properties when not in use.
  11.  The resident chased the landlord for an update on 25 July 2020 as the issue had been ongoing for some time. The resident also attached a photograph to prove that the issue persisted. The landlord replied on the same day to advise that it had visited the building on 14 July 2020 and had spoken with the occupiers storing their belongings in the communal areas. The landlord confirmed that the only item stored in the communal area, at the time of its inspection, was a bicycle. The occupiers advised that they were “in and out of the property” and it was agreed with the landlord that they should not store their bicycle in the communal area overnight. The resident was made aware of this.
  12. On 6 August 2020, the landlord advised the resident that, in response to her further reports of the above items together with a shopping trolley continuing to be stored in her building’s communal walkways on 28 July and 6 August 2020, that it would visit the property in the next week and issue a communal area clearance notice. The landlord also advised that, moving forward, any items found in the communal areas would be removed without any further notice.
  13. The resident wrote to the landlord again on 11 August 2020 to advise that this was the last contact before raising the above matter formally as a complaint. The resident advised the items were yet to be removed from the communal areas. The resident also expressed her concerns regarding the standard of cleanliness not being kept throughout the building and the effect that this was having, being followed by drug use in proximity of the building.
  14. On 12 August 2020, the resident formally raised a stage one complaint with the landlord about its management of unauthorised items in her block’s communal areas. On 14 August 2020, the resident wrote to the landlord to advise that some items had been removed from the communal areas; however, they were replaced with bicycles. The resident also flagged that another occupier (situated on a different floor) was storing a shopping trolley as well as a bicycle in the communal areas. The resident reiterated her concerns regarding the fire and safety risks imposed by these items being stored incorrectly.
  15.  The landlord subsequently issued a response to the resident’s stage one complaint. The landlord addressed all of the above points raised by the resident by confirming that the presence of unauthorised items in the communal areas was a breach of its tenancy agreements, checked for during its estate inspections and subject to enforcement action if necessary. It also explained that it initially worked with its residents by discussing this with them before issuing more formal responses, notices and legal action. The landlord stated that it could not disclose the precise action that it was taking against other residents in this case and that this had been limited by the pandemic, including because of delays to the legal system.
  16. The landlord nevertheless determined that all necessary action was taken every time the resident contacted the landlord with a report of the above issue and it apologised for any inconvenience caused. This Service was not provided with a date for when this was sent to the resident. Nonetheless, the resident advised that she was unhappy with this decision and requested for her complaint to be escalated to the final stage of the landlord’s complaints procedure on 17 August 2020.
  17. On 7 September 2020, the landlord issued a final stage response to the resident’s complaint that reiterated the findings of its stage one complaint response, as it had discretion as to the removal of unauthorised items from communal areas unless these posed a serious fire hazard that it had not found in this case. The landlord confirmed that the unauthorised items stored in the communal areas of the building had been removed and it apologised for the inconvenience caused by the amount of time that it had taken to resolve this issue.
  18. The landlord explained that, when dealing with incorrectly stored items, it preferred a more informal approach rather than to take legal action straight away, but that it intended to liaise with its resident safety team and cleaning operatives to speed up this process, and that it removed flammable items or those blocking fire exits immediately.
  19.  The resident subsequently forwarded her complaint to a local councillor for her district for their assistance as a designated person, who confirmed the landlord’s final stage complaint response’s above findings and referred her to this Service as they did not feel that there was anything further that they could assist with.

Assessment and findings

  1. In addition to complaining to the landlord about its response to her reports of neighbours storing unauthorised items in communal areas that is the focus of this investigation, the resident also reported experiencing antisocial behaviour and noise nuisance from them to it during the course of her case. However, there is no evidence that the latter issues have exhausted the landlord’s complaints procedure and so they are outside of the scope of this investigation to consider because the Ombudsman will not investigate complaints that are made prior to having exhausted a landlord’s complaints procedure.
  2. In the resident’s tenancy conditions, the landlord stipulates that residents are not to leave rubbish or large household items outside their properties, on landings or in shared areas. The landlord noted in its final stage complaint response of 7 September 2020 that, when it comes to the use of communal areas and any breach regarding the use of these, it will “encourage residents to take responsibility to remove such items and explain the importance of why communal areas must be kept clear. If items are not blocking the fire escape routes and are not a potential source of ignition then a managed use approach is adhered to”.
  3. The landlord’s management of fire risks within communal areas procedure allows its staff to use their discretion when deciding how long this process will take and when to issue a notice of clearance unless this posed a serious fire hazard.
  4. Based on the information brought to this Service, the landlord adhered to its tenancy conditions regarding the use of communal areas and it acted in a fair and reasonable manner in its handling of the resident’s reports of unauthorised items being stored in the communal areas.
  5. This is because, as detailed above, it has been acknowledged that the resident first brought this issue to the landlord’s attention on 3 August 2019; however, there was no correspondence on the matter between 5 September 2019 and 27 June 2020. As the landlord dealt with the issue informally at the time and the resident did not chase this up, it was reasonable for the landlord to believe that this had been fixed. This is also because there is also no evidence that its estate inspections or cleaning operatives found a serious fire hazard during this period or between her report of 3 August 2019 and its visit to her building on 22 August 2019.
  6. Once the resident re-raised this issue on 27 June 2020, the landlord responded to her concerns in a timely manner from 29 June 2020 onwards and effectively liaised with the other occupants to put things right. It did so by contacting its fire safety team, visiting her building, speaking to other residents and warning that it would serve them with communal area clearance notices. It is noted that the landlord has a responsibility to treat all its occupiers fairly. In this instance, the landlord acted reasonably in trying to engage with the other occupiers first, to give them the chance to remove their belongings.
  7. While this Service was not provided with the exact date or way the items stored in the communal areas were cleared, it was confirmed in the landlord’s final stage complaint response, issued on 7 September 2020, that at that time the unauthorised items had been removed.
  8. This Service appreciates the resident’s dissatisfaction with the landlord’s handling of her reports regarding items stored in the communal areas; however, the landlord has adhered to its tenancy conditions. As previously advised in this report, the landlord has a responsibility to treat all occupiers fairly, therefore, it was reasonable for the landlord to not issue a clearance notice straight away.
  9. It is noted that the landlord advised that it would be live testing a new process for identifying and removing items that should not be stored in the communal areas more quickly to seek to prevent a recurrence of unauthorised items being stored in communal areas for a prolonged length of time. Therefore, although it is of concern that the resident reported that such storage had occurred, it demonstrated that it had taken steps to put this right by speeding up the above process by liaising with its resident safety team and cleaning operatives.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the resident’s reports regarding unauthorised items being stored in the communal areas.

Reasons

  1. The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports regarding unauthorised items being stored in the communal areas adhered to its tenancy conditions and treated its residents fairly.