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North Kesteven District Council (202109476)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202109476

North Kesteven District Council

15 November 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 is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of drainage issues at their 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. The resident is a tenant. Their complaint concerns the landlord’s handling of their concerns about drainage issues with their property.
  2. The landlord issued a stage one response on 6 May 2020. The landlord noted that the resident has reported issues with their drainage in October 2019 and in March 2020. The landlord advised there was disagreement between the landlord and the water services provider as to which party is responsible for the drainage repairs. The landlord confirmed they consider the repairs are the responsibility of the water services provider and so asked the resident to report any further issues to the water services provider.
  3. The landlord issued a final response on 24 June 2020. The landlord recognised that it had yet to resolve the issues with the drain and that there continued to be disagreement over which party should take ownership of the repairs. The landlord apologised for how the matter had been handled and noted that it could have been more assertive in chasing the matter with the water services provider. The landlord confirmed that the resident had completed the landlord’s internal complaints procedure and could now refer the matter to a designated person, or to this Service.
  4. A designated person can be an MP, local councillor, or, where one is established, a tenant panel. In this case, the resident referred their complaint to a tenant panel authorised to act as a Designated Person.
  5. The tenant panel provided a response to the resident on 9 December 2020. It recognised the communication with the water services provider had been poor which had negatively impacted the resident. The panel offered the resident £100 worth of garden centre vouchers in recognition of the poor communication and confirmed it would chase the water services provider for an agreed survey and remedial works. The panel confirmed that if the resident remains dissatisfied, that they could refer the matter to the Ombudsman immediately.
  6. The resident first contacted this service on 22 July 2021. The resident raised concerns about the landlord’s handling of the drainage issue and the disagreement between the landlord and the water services provider.
  7. The resident provided this service with copies of the landlord’s complaint responses on 22 July 2021. The resident raised concerns that the landlord had not chased the water services provider as agreed in the panel response. The resident advised there were delays with the tenant panel issuing a response.

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 landlord issued the resident with a final response on 24 June 2020. The resident then contacted the Ombudsman on the 22 July 2021, over 13 months later, explaining they were dissatisfied with the landlord’s response.
  2. The resident explained that they were delayed in bringing their complaint to this Service because the tenant panel did not provide a response until December 2020. However, the resident then had a further 6 months to refer the matter to this service and did not do so until July 2021, more than 13 months after the landlord’s final response. The Ombudsman does not consider this a reasonable period of time in which to refer the complaint, and so the matter is not one this service can consider further.