Ombudsman finds severe maladministration for Clarion in “tragic” noise case following death of resident who took his own life

The Housing Ombudsman has found severe maladministration for Clarion after its “lack of consideration” of a resident’s vulnerability when handling his complaints about noise led to him suffering over a nine-month period.

The investigation was launched after the resident took his own life following “long-running mental health issues”.

The Ombudsman's report revealed that in the same month the resident first reported noise issues (related to wooden flooring above and children jumping), the resident attempted an overdose, blaming it on the noise nuisance he was suffering.

“Despite the landlord recording vulnerabilities for the resident, it did not tailor its responses effectively”, said the Ombudsman.

In its initial response to the resident, Clarion sent a standard ASB letter, agreed to speak to the neighbour and created an action plan for the issue, the report noted.

Following this, the neighbour agreed to having carpet fitted, but the resident “soon spoke about the little difference this made”, said the Ombudsman.

At this time, there was no risk assessment conducted by the landlord.

Two months after the initial reporting of the noise nuisance, a tenancy sustainment officer had weekly contact with the resident. The landlord issued its stage one response.

According to the report, the landlord said it would not install sound monitoring equipment due to the Covid-19 lockdown occurring at the time.

The Ombudsman observed that this “was not a reasonable position to take during this time as whilst there were still some restrictions in place, government guidance stated that landlords could carry out repairs and safety inspections”.

When the resident filed two more noise reports, he was again sent the standard ASB letter he was sent months previously.

“Over the course of four months, the resident completed 18 noise reports and noise recordings were sent to the landlord but due to some software issues, not all were listened to”, the Ombudsman found.

The report revealed a visit to the property by the landlord found “considerable transmission of both noise and movement from the flat above into the resident’s flat”, but nothing more was done.

The mental health team expressed concerns to the landlord about the resident.

The Ombudsman noted: “Throughout the complaint the resident himself complained of worsening mental health including anxiety and depression, stressed and not eating or sleeping.”

In the month before the resident took his life, Clarion installed some sound monitoring equipment for a “short period” before removing it and taking no further action. It also did not act on his rehousing request, the report revealed.

Ten days before the resident ended his life, the landlord closed the case.

The coroner concluded that the resident took his own life. He added that whilst he did not leave a note of intent, there was a history of overdose by medication in January 2021 because of the noise issue.

The Housing Ombudsman found severe maladministration for Clarion’s “lack of consideration” of the resident’s vulnerability, alongside maladministration for how it handled the noise aspect of the complaint.

To remedy the injustice caused, the Ombudsman ordered a senior leader in the organisation to write a letter of apology to the residents’ family, as well as for the landlord to “self-assess” against the Ombudsman’s Spotlight on Noise complaints report.

Further, Clarion was ordered to review its record keeping and review its vulnerable resident’s policy “paying regard to how it manages reports of non-statutory noise nuisance, including the use of reasonable adjustments”.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “This is a deeply distressing case.

“It is clear the landlord’s staff have sought to learn lessons following these tragic events and several of its actions reflect the recommendations we made on our Spotlight report on noise nuisance last year.

“While the events in this case precede our Spotlight report, unquestionably this tragic case shows why the recommendations from this are so important for landlords to urgently address.

“[…] Unfortunately, evidence across our casework shows that noise can sometimes be pushed to one side but for residents, this is something that can engulf them."

Blakeway added: “In this case, the landlord repeatedly failed to apply a considered and tailored approach to the resident, despite a previous attempt to end his life. That should have been a warning but instead the landlord did not go far enough.”

In a learning statement, Clarion said: “We offer our heartfelt condolences to the family and an unreserved apology for all shortcomings in the service we provided the resident. We recognise that our communication process should have been far better and we accept the recommendations of the Ombudsman with humility.

“The case and actions taken have been reviewed by the senior management team, and our chief customer officer has personally written to the family."

The landlord added: “We continue to make improvements to how we record and act on vulnerability of our residents and we have reviewed our automated letters process to ensure an appropriate response is issued in line with our vulnerability support policy. Our tenancy sustainment and welfare team, who worked with the resident alongside external agencies, also offer advice to our residents and signpost to extra support when required.

“We have also amended our management transfer policy so that includes a broader consideration of risk which better takes into account exceptional circumstances.

“As part of our learning from this case, and in response to the recommendations in the Ombudsman’s report published in October 2022, ‘Spotlight on noise complaints: time to be heard’ we have reviewed our approach and produced an action plan to enhance our procedures so that building noise cases of this kind are separated from anti-social behaviour issues. These changes have been rolled out across Clarion.”

Lottie Winson