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Housing 21 (202116614)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202116614

Housing 21

15 February 2022


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 landlord’s handling of a reference request for the resident’s housing application for a property with another landlord.

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 a former tenant of the landlord. The resident’s complaint concerns the landlord’s response to a reference in support of an application made to another landlord. The resident complained that the landlord had entered “decline to answer” in response to some of the questions on the reference form. The resident explained that this resulted in the application being rejected by the prospective landlord.
  2. The landlord contacted this service on 3 November 2021 and explained that the resident had vacated their property more than a year ago. It provided a final response to the complaint on 25 November 2021, accepting that its response to the reference could have been viewed negatively and offered the resident £25 compensation as a gesture of goodwill.
  3. The resident referred their complaint to this service on 25 November 2021.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 36 of the Scheme states that…

The person complaining, or on whose behalf a complaint is made must have been, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, adversely affected by those actions or omissions in respect of their application for, or occupation of, property.

  1. For the Ombudsman to consider a complaint, it must be brought by the resident of a member landlord’s property and concern the resident’s occupation of that property. In this case, the resident had not been a tenant of the landlord for at least a year, and their complaint concerned an application to another landlord for a different property.
  2. The complainant was a tenant of the landlord, however, their complaint concerns information provided to another party at least one year after the end of their tenancy. Therefore, the Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint.
  3. This service understands that this is likely to be a disappointing outcome for the resident. The resident may wish to seek legal advice to help clarify the issue, should they wish to pursue the matter further.