Decision Report 201608465

Summary

Due to raised levels of carbon dioxide in her home, Miss C was decanted to a new permanent home by the housing association. She complained to us that the association failed to manage her decant in line with their policy and that they failed to communicate with her in an appropriate manner throughout the process.

The association told us that, at an early stage of the carbon dioxide incident arising, they identified that they did not have a policy on decant and home loss allowances which covered an incident the scale of that experienced by Miss C. They took steps to put one in place and confirmed that they took guidance for the amounts to offer for home loss and furnishings from Shelter (a charity which offers advice and advocacy regarding poor housing) and other housing associations. The association also explained that they agreed with Miss C what work they would complete in her new home. In addition, Miss C received the appropriate home loss payment and she also received additional payments for replacing her floor coverings and curtains. The amounts Miss C received were in line with the allowances set out in the association's decant policy. As such, we did not uphold Miss C's complaint that the association failed to manage her decant in line with their policy.

We also did not identify any evidence to suggest the association failed to communicate with Miss C in an appropriate manner throughout the process. We saw evidence that staff had taken reasonable steps to keep in contact with Miss C throughout the process. In light of the evidence available, we did not uphold Miss C's complaint about the association's communication with her throughout the process.