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Service Charges (August 2020)

Summary

Mr P had an ongoing dispute with us regarding his service charges, particularly in relation to charges for major works. Mr P raised a formal complaint and gave background to the issues he has had in relation to the service charge and listed 4 elements regarding poor communication and bad practice by us.

We replied and stated its position that as this is a service charge dispute, Mr P would need to take his complaint to the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) (FTT).

Mr P continued to send numerous queries to us, which included a large volume of correspondence and supporting evidence. We repeatedly advised Mr P that it would not consider the further correspondence as these have already been responded to and the advice was for Mr P to take it to the FTT.

Mr P was dissatisfied with the standard of communication, and he had made it clear that he expected us to continue corresponding with him in relation to the dispute. We have a duty to manage its resources effectively and to the benefit of all its residents. It would not be proportionate for us to commit considerable resources to ongoing communication about an issue it considered to have responded to adequately. Given our position was that it had responded in a satisfactory manner, it was appropriate to advise Mr P that it would no longer correspond on the matter and refer Mr P to the relevant authority to take further action, which in this case was the FTT.

Mr P referred the matter to the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS).

Outcome

HOS concluded their investigation and carefully considered the evidence we provided. HOS found no maladministration in our handling of the complaint and was satisfied that we had signposted Mr P to the FTT in relation to the service charge dispute.

Recommendation from the HOS

No recommendations were made.