Hackney Council — case 202004968

REPORT COMPLAINT 202004968 London Borough of Hackney 8 December 2020 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 The Resident complained: about the information the landlord provided to this Service in relation to a previous complaint under the reference 201703415. that the landlord accused them of being responsible for the gas leak in their former property. Determination (jurisdictional decision) 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. After carefully considering all the evidence, I have determined that the complaints, as set out above, are not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Summary of events The Resident made a formal complaint to the landlord in 2017. This related to the landlord’s response to concerns they raised about gas safety at their former property. The landlord issued its final response to the complaint on 23 May 2017. The Resident then brought their complaint to this Service and we investigated it under the reference number 201703415. We issued our determination on the complaint, on 13 March 2018. The Resident requested a review of the Ombudsman’s determination and the review outcome was issued on 5 July 2018, upholding the findings from the determination.

On 26 August 2020, the Resident raised concerns with the Ombudsman about the information the landlord had provided in relation to case reference 201703415, and the accuracy of this information. The Resident indicated that they were not aware of the information in question until the Ombudsman issued its determination in 2018. Reasons Paragraph 39(o) of the Scheme states that the Ombudsman will not investigate complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, seek to raise again matters which the Housing Ombudsman, or any other Ombudsman has already decided upon.

When we reviewed the complaint under the reference 201703415, we made the decision based on the information that was available. This included assessing the quality of the information provided and reviewing whether the information was corroborated by other information in the file. If the Resident had comments on the information the Ombudsman relied upon or, had evidence that demonstrated that the information was wrong, it is expected that they would have raised this as part of the review process.

The Resident’s fundamental complaint about the landlord has been fully considered and has gone through all stages in this Service’s dispute resolution process, which provided the opportunity for them to raise queries about the information the Ombudsman relied upon to make the decision. We will not therefore, reinvestigate the complaint or assess the information relied upon to decide on the previous complaint under the reference 201703415. I am satisfied, for the reasons detailed above, that this complaint does not fall within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction to investigate.