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Hyde Housing Association Limited (202200018)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202200018

Hyde Housing Association Limited

26 June 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. This complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
    1. the resident’s queries about service charges, and;
    2. the resident’s complaint.

Background

  1. The resident holds an assured tenancy with the landlord that began on 10 February 1995. The property is a three-bedroom maisonette. The tenancy agreement sets out a weekly rent charge and variable service charge.
  2. The resident wrote to the landlord about charges she felt should not be included on her service charge bill on 16 July 2020, 6 August 2020 and 18 March 2021. This Service has seen no evidence that the landlord responded to these letters. The resident then received her estimated service charges for 2022/23 on 10 February 2022. Following this, she called this Service and raised a complaint. She advised that she was unhappy with five of the individual charges included. She also said she had previously raised these issues with the landlord but had not received a response. This Service sent this complaint to the landlord on the same date.
  3. The landlord acknowledged this complaint on 21 April 2022 and provided its stage 1 response on 5 May 2022. It partially upheld the resident’s complaint, offering £100 compensation for the time and trouble caused to the resident pursuing this. However, it said the charges were correct and in line with the terms of the tenancy agreement.
  4. The resident escalated her complaint through this Service on 1 July 2022. She was unhappy as she felt she was paying for services she was not receiving. She was also unhappy with the landlord’s engagement throughout the complaints process. The landlord sent its stage 2 complaint response on 12 August 2022. It again did not uphold the resident’s complaint, stating that the information it provided in its earlier response was correct. It also said that if the resident felt the services provided were not up to standard, the resident needed to speak to the property manager.
  5. The resident contacted this Service on 7 September 2022 to confirm she wished for this Service to investigate her complaint. She said she was unhappy with paying for services she was not receiving and with the landlord’s poor communication. To resolve this complaint, she would like the disputed charges to be refunded and to have these removed from future bills. In a call to this Service, the resident also stated she would like the landlord to visit the property to discuss the issues with her.

Assessment and findings

The scope of this investigation

  1. Paragraph 42(e) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states this Service will not review complaints about the increase of service charges or determine whether service charges are reasonable or payable. However, we can review complaints that relate to the collection of service charges or how the landlord communicated information about service charges. Complaints that relate to the level, reasonableness, or liability to pay rent or service charges are within the jurisdiction of the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) and the complainant may wish to seek free and independent legal advice from the Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) (https://www.lease-advice.org/) about how to proceed with a case.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s queries about her service charges

  1. The resident sent the landlord three pieces of correspondence on 16 July 2020, 6 August 2020 and 18 March 2021. The resident does not appear to have received a response to any of these letters from the landlord. The resident therefore was left without an answer for over a year. The landlord has responded to the resident only following contact from this Service.
  2. These letters raised issues with the service charge. This Service cannot see evidence that the landlord has investigated these concerns. Nor has it provided the resident with adequate explanations of the disputed charges until its stage 1 complaint response. The landlord’s approach to service charges on its website says that it will ‘complete a thorough investigation into service charge enquiries’ and provide a ‘detailed response’. The landlord has not fulfilled these obligations and has not provided the resident with a detailed response which discusses each of the issues.
  3. The landlord directed the resident to speak with the property manager if she had an issue with the services being provided. As the property manager was a part of the landlord’s organisation, this Service would expect the landlord to consult with the property manager when performing its investigation into the resident’s concerns. This represented a failure by the landlord to properly investigate the resident’s concerns.
  4. However, this Service notes that the resident had contacted the first-tier tribunal in 2021 about a Notice of Increase. The relevant information about their powers has been provided to the resident on the service charge notifications as per the landlord’s statutory obligations.
  5. The landlord’s failure to respond or to properly investigate the resident’s concerns equate to service failure in its handling of the resident’s enquiry.
  6. The landlord offered the resident £100 compensation for the time and trouble pursuing this information. However, given the landlords service failure it should increase this amount to £200.
  7. The landlord should offer a meeting with the resident to discuss the service charges and any concerns about elements of the service charge that the resident may have.

The landlord’s handling of the associated complaint

  1. The landlord’s complaint policy has two stages. At stage 1, it says it will provide a formal acknowledgement within two working days and a response within ten working days. If a resident wishes to escalate a complaint to stage 2, a senior manager will then investigate the complaint. The landlord says it will then respond within 20 working days.
  2. At stage 1, the landlord took 14 working days to send an acknowledgement and 24 working days to respond to the resident. This represented a failure by the landlord to follow its internal policies.
  3. The resident has told this Service that she escalated her complaint by letter to the landlord on 24 May 2022. However, this Service has not seen evidence of the landlord receiving this. It appears the landlord was first aware of the resident’s desire to escalate her complaint on 1 July 2022.
  4. At stage 2, the landlord took 26 working days to respond to the resident’s complaint. The time taken was outside the timescales prescribed by the landlord’s policies. This delay was a further service failure from the landlord.
  5. The landlord’s responses were fair and reasonable in tone and content.
  6. The landlord’s failure to adhere to its policies at both stage 1 and 2 represent service failure from the landlord. The landlord should pay the resident £50 for these failings.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s queries about her service charges.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Orders

  1. The landlord is to compensate the resident £250, inclusive of its previous offer of £100. This, consists of:
    1. £200for failing to treat the resident fairly or in line with its policies when handling the resident’s queries about her service charges.
    2. £50 for its failings to comply with its policies when handling the resident’s complaint.
  2. The landlord is to offer a meeting with the resident. The purpose of this is to provide an opportunity to discuss the concerns regarding the service charges. The resident is not obliged to attend if she does not wish to.
  3. The landlord should provide evidence it has done this within four weeks of the date of this report.