Mrs A complained that Merthyr Valleys Homes (‘the Housing Association’) failed to respond to her repeated concerns over several months about outstanding repairs to her 90-year-old mother’s property. She said that the Housing Association only inspected the property after her MP became involved.
The Ombudsman decided that the Housing Association had not followed its repairs policy in terms of how long it took to inspect the property and carry out the repairs. She also decided that it had not followed its complaints policy because it had not identified Mrs A’s repeated concerns, or correspondence from her MP, as a formal complaint. The Ombudsman decided to settle the complaint without an investigation.
The Ombudsman sought and gained the Housing Association’s agreement within 1 month, to apologise to Mrs A that she had to contact the Ombudsman and that her concerns were not dealt with as a complaint, and to provide a Stage 2 response to the complaint, remedying any issues identified.