SPSO Individual Decisions

Mrs C complained to the housing association that her neighbour had been making noise for a substantial period which was preventing her from sleeping. She also complained that her previous complaints regarding the anti-social behaviour of her neighbours had not been taken seriously. The association responded to Mrs C outlining that they were unable to take action against her neighbours on the basis of the evidence they had in relation to previous complaints. They also clarified communications with Mrs C and apologised if they had been misinterpreted. The association committed to publishing information in their newsletter regarding anti-social behaviour and how this would be managed. Mrs C was not satisfied with the response and complained to us that the association's response to her complaints had been unreasonable. The association provided us with their complaints file. It was clear that there had been many complaints with respect to anti-social behaviour and estate management issues, dating back a number of years. On reviewing the response by the association we found that they had, on the whole, properly investigated Mrs C's complaints and had communicated with her. However, with respect to the response to her recent complaint, whilst we found that the association had properly investigated matters, we found that they did not properly communicate the outcome to Mrs C. We also found that they did not properly communicate about the delay in providing their response to Mrs C. These failings were not in line with the association's complaints procedure and so we upheld Mrs C's complaint.

Mr and Mrs C complained that they were unreasonably held liable for a month's rent by a housing association because they did not give the required notice of their intention to leave the property. They said that they gave notice to leave by handing in a letter to the association's reception desk. They also complained that the association failed to tell them about arrears about which they were eventually made aware by a third party. The association said they had no record of receiving a letter. Mr and Mrs C provided us with a copy of the letter they said they handed over, but had no receipt to show that it had been delivered or accepted. The member of staff to whom Mr and Mrs C said they gave the letter could not remember receiving it. Mr and Mrs C also said that staff knew they were leaving but the information gathered during the investigation of the complaint indicated that the association were not aware of Mr and Mrs C's intention to leave until the day they handed in their keys. There were differing accounts of what happened, and we could only use the available evidence to reach our decision. Although, therefore, we did not disbelieve Mr and Mrs C's account of events, as there was no independent evidence to support their position we could not uphold their complaint. We also found that the association acted in line with their policy and procedures. Related reading View Decision Report 201102824 as a PDF (11.3 KB) Updated: March 13, 2018

Mr C, a tenant of the housing association, complained that the association had not responded reasonably when he raised issues about excrement in the common areas of their close. Mr C exhausted the association’s complaints procedure. The final response from the chair of the complaint panel to Mr C explained that it appeared that the excrement had been cleaned from the floor before the initial visit of a housing officer; that during a visit earlier in the year the offending marks had to be pointed out as they were very small and not immediately obvious; that a visit by panel members the previous week had seen nothing on the landing floor and that the panel was satisfied that staff took appropriate steps to address the matters raised. Mr C was dissatisfied with this response and raised his complaints with us. Our investigation found that the association had reasonably investigated Mr C's complaints and we did not uphold the complaint. Related reading View Decision Report 201101210 as a PDF (13.81 KB) Updated: March 13, 2018