One Housing Group Limited (202110942)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202110942

One Housing Group Limited

11 November 2021

Our approach

1. 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.
2. 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

3. The complaint is about the landlord’s failure to provide accounts for the period of 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, as requested by the resident.

Background and summary of events

Background and policies

4. The resident has been a leaseholder of the landlord, at the property, from 13 March 2018.
5. The landlord has an informal ‘early resolution’ complaint stage, followed by a two-stage formal complaints procedure whereby it aims to investigate and respond within 10 working days at stage one and within 20 working days at stage two.
6. The landlord’s compensation policy allows for compensation to be offered for inconvenience and as gestures for goodwill, with a payment between £25 and £250.  Paragraph 16 of that same policy states that where compensation is offered and a rent account is in arrears, any compensation awarded should be offset against the arrears,

Summary of events

7. On 26 September 2019 the landlord sent a Section 20(b) notice to the resident. Within this letter, the landlord advised that the 2018-2019 had not yet been finalised as it was waiting for further information and stated that a detailed breakdown of charges would be sent as soon as possible.
8. One year and seven months later, on 14 April 2021, following contact from the resident regarding his dissatisfaction with it having not provided him with copies of the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 accounts, the landlord responded at the informal ‘early resolution’ stage of its complaints procedure. 
9. The landlord explained that the Section 20(b) notice of 26 September 2019 had advised that the year-end accounts had not been completed and that it hoped to have these account details available soon. It did not agree to award compensation to the resident, as he had requested.
10. On 19 April 2021, the resident contacted the landlord as he was dissatisfied with its response. The following day, on 20 April 2021, it advised that the matter had been escalated and it would be in touch in due course.
11. On 5 May 2021 the landlord issued its stage one response to the complaint. It apologised that it had taken time to review the accounts, explaining that it had now received the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 accounts from its management agent and had been working to complete a review of these before passing to its auditor for certification.
12. The landlord advised that it did not have a timescale for when the review and certification process would be completed but that it would write to the resident once this had been done.  It did not agree that compensation was due because it was still working on the accounts.
13. On 16 May 2021, the resident requested escalation of his complaint through the landlord’s complaints process. He believed there was a lack of transparency and credibility in the landlord failing to provide the account details he had requested. The resident was seeking compensation in respect of this.
14. Having not heard from the landlord, on 8 June 2021, the resident contacted it by email, expressing his dissatisfaction with having received no response and advising that he was left with no choice but to bring the matter to the Ombudsman.
15. On 15 June 2021, the landlord provided its stage two response, where it partially upheld the complaint.  The landlord reiterated its stage one explanation for not yet having provided the accounts, adding that it had received the 2018-2019 accounts on 24 December 2020 and the 2019-2020 accounts on 5 March 2021 and advised it would be writing to residents as soon as it was able and would also be holding surgeries to review the accounts and answer any questions. 
16. The landlord did accept that there had been a delay in providing the end of year accounts which it had had for almost six months, for which it apologised and offered £100 compensation in recognition of this.

Assessment and findings

17. Having received a request for the accounts, on 14 April 2021, the landlord explained at its ‘early resolution’ complaint stage that it could not provide them at that point in time and why, advising that it hoped to be able to provide them as soon as possible.  The landlord’s response was reasonable insofar as it responded to the resident’s expression of dissatisfaction with an explanation as to why it could not yet provide the accounts and with an assurance that it would, once these were available which it hoped to be soon. 

18. The landlord missed the opportunity to recognise the frustration and inconvenience caused by the length of time that the resident had already had to wait, however, and to offer its empathy in respect of this.

19. Having received an escalation request, the landlord duly escalated the complaint to stage one of its complaints procedure and responded at stage one within the timescales set out in its policy.  The landlord’s stage one response appropriately offered an apology for the length of time the resident was having to wait and provided more detail around the reasons for the delay, which was also appropriate; in the absence of this previously, the resident understandably felt frustrated at the situation and began questioning the landlord’s honesty and integrity.

20. Although the landlord did not respond to the resident’s stage two escalation request as it should have done, it provided its stage two response within a reasonable time frame, only very slightly over its 20–working day aim and within its response, accepted at this point that the delay it was responsible for was unreasonable and appropriately apologised for this.

21. Whilst frustrating for the resident, there is no evidence of the landlord deliberately withholding information from him. It is not always possible to provide a precise timeframe, although a situation should not go on indefinitely and accounts should be provided within a reasonable time of being available.  The issue here, was that once the landlord received the information from its management agent, it took too long for it to complete its due diligence, which it has appropriately accepted.

22. While an exact timescale may not have been possible, the landlord did not offer a broad timeframe within which the resident could expect to be provided with the accounts. It missed an opportunity to do this; doing so would have provided a boundary around the situation and undoubtedly helped to alleviate some of the resident’s feelings of frustration.

23. Turning to compensation, the landlord was not obliged to offer the resident compensation even in the face of a service failure such as this.  Compensation in circumstances such as these is discretionary and the landlord exercised its discretion to offer him £100, which was an appropriate amount, as per the guidance in its compensation policy.

Determination (decision)

24. In accordance with paragraph 55(b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord provided reasonable redress in respect of the complaint.

Reasons

25. The landlord provided reasonable redress in respect of the complaint, insofar as it explained why the accounts were taking a lengthy period of time and apologised for this, including in respect of the latter delay for which it was responsible.  The landlord appropriately took steps to reassure the resident that the information would become available and be passed onto him and reasonably offered compensation, of an amount which was within the guidance of its compensation policy.

Recommendations

26. If the compensation amount has not already been accepted, the landlord to re-offer this to the resident.
27. If the account information has still not been provided, the landlord to provide an update to the resident and where possible, a broad timeframe within which he can expect to receive this information.
28. The landlord to strongly consider confirming its intentions in respect of the above recommendations by within four weeks of the date of this decision.