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Hackney Housing Co-operative Limited (201816318)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 201816318

Hackney Housing Co-operative Limited

4 March 2021


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 resident’s reports of social nuisance and antisocial behaviour and the handling of those reports by their landlord.
  2. The complaint concerns the landlord’s handling of repairs and damp issues in 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. In August 2018, the resident met with the landlord’s Complaints Sub Committee. This took place to establish the resident’s concerns and find a resolution to their issues about repairs, the bin area, shared access areas, noise nuisance and antisocial behaviour.
  2. The landlord provided a final response to the complaint on 23 November 2018, where they listed all the issues set out above and detailed the actions it has taken or will be taking to address those issues.
  3. Unhappy with the landlord’s response, the resident appealed the decision and the landlord then provided the resident with its appeals decision letter on 7 February 2019.

 

  1. In March 2019, the resident emailed our Service. They explained that they had brought complaints to their landlord but were not happy about how these had been handled. The resident asked this Service to set out any timelines for bringing the complaint to the Ombudsman for investigation.
  2. On 15 April 2019, this Service wrote to the resident and explained the following:
    1. That, due to the Localism Act 2011, a period of eight weeks must pass following the landlord’s final response before the resident can refer a case directly to this Service for investigation.
    2. That, during this eight-week period, the resident may wish to refer their case to a designated person.
    3. That we do not accept complaints brought for investigation more than 12 months after the landlord’s final response.
    4. In order to refer the complaint to this Service, the resident would need to contact us to request this and provide a copy of the final response.
  3. On 22 and 26 July 2019, the resident copied this Service into correspondence sent to the landlord and other parties concerning reports of ongoing antisocial behaviour, and information concerning rubbish collections being arranged at that time.
  4. A period of 12 months then pass by with no contact from the resident. They emailed our Service on 20 July 2020 to say that various bodies have been contacted and they ask what the next steps are. This Service wrote to the resident on 5 August 2020 and explained that it was not clear which issues the resident was referring to, or whether these matters had exhausted the landlord’s complaint procedures.
  5. This service was copied into further correspondence sent to the resident’s MP in August 2020. No further information concerning any complaint to the landlord was provided.
  6. On 6 January 2021, the resident copied this Service into another email chain with her local MP and other third parties, which outlines missed job targets and repairs, amongst other things. This Service sent the resident an acknowledgement and advice about how to raise these issues with their landlord.
  7. The resident wrote to this Service on 8 January 2021 and provided a copy of the landlord’s final response to their complaint, of 7 February 2019. This was the first time following the resident’s enquiry in March 2019, that this Service received a copy of the complaint response or a request to investigate this complaint further.

 

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 39 (d) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states that:

The Ombudsman will not investigate complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion: were brought to the Ombudsman’s attention normally more than 12 months after they exhausted the member’s complaints procedure.

  1. The resident contacted this Service in March 2019 and requested information about how to bring their complaint to this Service and the time restrictions on doing so. This information was provided to the resident on 15 April 2019. In its letter, this Service explained that the resident would need to provide a copy of the landlord’s final response and request an investigation within 12 months of the landlord’s decision (7 February 2020).
  2. In July 2019, the resident copied this Service into correspondence sent to the landlord and third parties about ongoing issues. This Service responded asking for confirmation that the resident had made a complaint to their landlord and for the resident to provide a copy of any response. At this point, this Service had not received evidence that the complaint had exhausted the landlord’s complaint procedure, nor had the resident requested an investigation.
  3. This Service received no further contact from the resident until July 2020, when it was copied into correspondence sent to several parties, including the landlord, enquiring about next steps. This Service responded and made further enquiries of the resident about whether or not they had exhausted the landlord’s complaint procedure.
  4. We received no further contact until January 2021, when the resident provided a copy of the landlord’s final response and confirmed they would like this Service to investigate their complaint.
  5. When the resident contacted this Service in March 2019, the complaint had already exhausted the landlord’s complaint procedure and I am satisfied that the resident would have been aware of this. This Service provided the resident with accurate information about how to bring their complaint to the Ombudsman. This clearly explained how the resident could request an investigation of the complaint. When copied into correspondence for other organisations, this Service made further enquiries of the resident about whether or not they could provide copies of the complaint response if they wished us to investigate their case.

 

 

 

  1. The resident was aware that they would need to request an investigation and that they had twelve months from the landlord’s final response in which to do so (7 March 2020). The resident did not provide this information until January 2021, nearly two years after the landlord’s final decision.
  2. Therefore, in accordance with paragraph 39 (d) of the Scheme, this is not a case that the Ombudsman will investigate further.