PSOW Individual Decisions

Mrs A complained on behalf of her mother, Ms B, about noise and vibration she was experiencing in her Wales & West Housing Association flat. The Ombudsman found that when Ms B complained to the Housing Association about the noise and vibration it was not logged and a specific complaint response was not provided as per its procedure. The Ombudsman decided to settle the complaint without an investigation. The Ombudsman sought and gained the Housing Association’s agreement to apologise to Ms B and to issue a complaint response within 4 weeks of the Ombudsman’s decision.

Mr X complained that Wales & West Housing Association paused his application for a mutual exchange. The Ombudsman found that the Association had failed to inform Mr X of his right to escalate his complaint to stage 2 of the complaints procedure. The Ombudsman said this caused uncertainty for Mr X. She decided to settle the complaint without an Investigation. The Ombudsman sought and gained the Association’s agreement to, within 1 week, apologise to Mr X for failing to inform him of the right to escalate his complaint to stage 2 and to consider and respond to Mr X’s complaint in line with the Association’s complaints procedure.

Mrs S complained that Wales & West Housing Association failed to address all the concerns she raised with it. The Ombudsman found that the Association failed to address all the concerns she raised which caused additional frustration and uncertainty for Mrs S. She decided to settle the complaint without an investigation. The Ombudsman sought and gained the Association’s agreement to, within 2 weeks, apologise to Mrs S for not addressing the outstanding concerns. To reconsider her complaint and offer £100 financial payment for time and trouble.

Miss A complained that the Housing Association had not completed investigation and repair work required to resolve noise issues, including accessing neighbouring properties to test the hot water system. The Ombudsman’s assessment found that the Housing Association had not fully responded to Miss A’s complaint. The Ombudsman sought and gained the Housing Association’s agreement to the following actions as an alternative to a formal investigation: • Access neighbouring properties and test the hot water system. • Provide a formal complaint response to include the outcome of the tests and confirmation of any action required with timescales for completion. The Housing Association agreed to take this action within four weeks.

Mrs D complained that Wales & West Housing Association failed to provide a response to her Stage 2 complaint which she made in February 2023. The Ombudsman decided that whilst the Housing Association had provided regular and meaningful updates it had not issued a Stage 2 complaint response. She said that this caused frustration to Mrs D. She decided to settle the complaint without an investigation. The Ombudsman sought and gained the Housing Association’s agreement to apologise to Mrs D, provide an explanation for the delay and issue a complaint response by 9 June 2023.

Mr X complained about visitors staying at his neighbour’s homes in violation of tenancy agreements. He also complained about a lack of mask wearing by staff, standard or safety of the communal door, cannabis smoking, an allegation of breaching his confidentiality and Association staff avoiding his telephone calls. The Ombudsman was satisfied that the Association had reasonably addressed the visitor issues, but decided that a further written response should be issued (by 29 July) to address the other issues not already responded to. The Association agreed to issue the further written response and the Ombudsman considered this to be an appropriate resolution to the complaint instead of conducting an investigation.

Mr Y complained that Wales & West Housing Association failed to appropriately investigate his complaints of Anti-Social Behaviour (“ASB”) against his neighbour, another tenant of the Association (“Mr X”), between June 2018 and May 2020. The Ombudsman found that there was no evidence of any formal or informal complaints from Mr Y against Mr X between June 2018 and January 2020. However he found that there were shortcomings in the Association’s handling of Mr Y’s ASB complaints between January and May 2020, namely poor communication (including failure to respond to an ASB concern made by Mr Y by text) and failure to keep Mr Y informed of action the Association was taking in response to his complaints. These were contrary to the requirements of its ASB Policy. The Ombudsman was unable to evaluate the Association’s actions against its ASB Procedure (there was no documented procedure at the time – the Association said it used a different kind of guidance for staff) which inhibited the Ombudsman’s ability to determine whether it appropriately investigated Mr Y’s ASB complaints. The Ombudsman also found that despite being aware of the extent of the impact of the events on Mr Y’s mental health, it did not update his records, or ask Mr Y what his needs were, and whether he required reasonable adjustments. These shortcomings amounted to maladministration which caused Mr Y an injustice. The Association agreed to apologise to Mr Y, and provide a redress payment for the distress caused by the way it handled Mr Y’s complaint. It also agreed to prepare and publish an ASB procedure, review its ASB Policy, and arrange training for relevant staff in relation to the ASB procedure.

Mrs X complained to the Ombudsman about renovation works which had been completed on her property under a Physical Adaptation Grant. She pointed out that the outstanding snagging issues had not been resolved. Following discussions with the Ombudsman, WWHA agreed that it would undertake the following in settlement of her complaint: • Arrange a meeting with Mrs X to identify her concerns by 13 August 2021. • Following the meeting, prepare a written response to the concerns, plus a written plan for any agreed works by 10 September 2021.