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Settle Group (202107882)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202107882

Settle Group

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 decision to rent an area of land near the resident’s home to private owners.

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. They moved into their property via mutual exchange. Their complaint is about the landlord’s decision to rent a nearby area of its land to the resident’s neighbour who is a freeholder. The resident believes the landlord should rent her the piece of land as she has a small garden and because she believes the landlord should be renting the land to the landlord’s tenants, rather than private owners. The resident further explained that they understood that, in the past, the land in question had been allocated to her home
  2. This service has seen records that indicate the resident made a formal complaint on 25 May 2021 and that the landlord issued a stage one response on 2 June 2021. The landlord explained that, when it had taken ownership of the property some time ago, the land the resident was enquiring about was not allocated to her property. It explained that an agreement was in place to rent the land to her neighbour, therefore if could not rent this land to the resident.
  3. The resident escalated their complaint on 2 June 2021. The landlord issued a final response on 25 June 2021. The landlord advised the current lease for the area in question was agreed before the resident moved in. The landlord explained that whilst they appreciated the resident’s concerns, that the resident accepted the property and garden ”as is” and were aware that this did not include the area of land they were enquiring about.
  4. The resident provided this Service with a copy of the final response on 2 July 2021. The resident advised they had requested for the land to be added back to their property. They stated they believe the landlord should be prioritising its own tenants rather than private owners. They further explained that their own garden is very small, and they would like somewhere for their children to play.
  5. On 26 October 2021, the resident explained to this service that she believes the landlord should not be renting the parcel of landlord to a private owner. She confirmed she understood the land in question was not attached to the house when she moved in, but understood that it had previously been attached and that she believes the landlord should rent it to its own tenants rather than private residents.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 36 of the Housing Ombudsman 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. The resident confirmed their complaint concerns the landlord’s decision to rent a piece of its land to their neighbour, which they would like to be allocated to their property or rented to them separately. The landlord has explained that it does not consider this area of land to be part of the resident’s property’s garden and explained that it is currently rented commercially to another individual.
  2. The resident explained that they believe their property had use of this area of land in the past. However, they also confirmed that, when they accepted their property, they were aware that it did not include this land.
  3. The Ombudsman can only consider complaints about issues relating to the resident’s occupation of their property. This complaint concerns the landlord’s use of land separate to the resident’s property; therefore, the Ombudsman cannot consider this complaint further.