Posted 14.12.21
Housing Ombudsman Service: Further reading
A group complaint about parking and a shared owner's complaint about windows are among the latest additions to the Housing Ombudsman's online casebook, demonstrating the impact of its decisions on individuals and for wider benefit.
The casebook provides an ever-expanding resource, sharing learning for the sector and demonstrating the difference complaints can make.
It illustrates the types of complaints the Housing Ombudsman can consider and the range of outcomes. The online casebook has now reached more than 1,200 decisions.
New decisions are published every two weeks and the landlord in each case is identified.? They are published three months after the decision date.
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Posted 01.12.21
Housing Ombudsman Service: Further reading
Cumulative failings by Anchor Hanover in responding to a resident's request for a transfer after experiencing domestic violence resulted in a finding of severe maladministration by the Housing Ombudsman.
The resident, who was suffering from a serious medical condition, remained at the property where she experienced further domestic violence before being left homeless for five months.
The resident had moved into her mother's property to provide care and asked if she would be allowed to remain there following her mother's death.
The landlord provided her with its right to remain' criteria and advised that her application to lodge with her mother had been approved.
She later reported domestic violence and then made a request to be transferred to alternative accommodation. The landlord said it appeared that she had not been added to its formal records as living at the property and advised her to apply to be a named tenant. She would then be able to apply for a transfer after 12 months.
The Ombudsman's investigation found that while the resident was not a tenant at the time she made a request for a transfer to an alternative property, this did not prevent her from becoming a new applicant, which was not explained to her.
The advice that she initially register as a tenant and then wait a year had the potential to unduly delay her ability to be relocated.
The failure to assist her to become a new applicant, along with its failure to further investigate the reports of domestic violence as required by the Association's safeguarding policy, prevented her from being considered priority one under Anchor Hanover's lettings policy requirements.
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