"In July 2023, my partner and I applied to buy a 2-bed shared ownership property, hard times and rising costs meant we decided to pull out of the sale. A signed agreement with GreenSquareAccord, states we are entitled to half of the holding deposit back if we decide not to go through with the sale. I also have a complete e-mail log with a representative of the association, stating that the refund was in the works since late August but has not been received as of 24 October 2023.
I lodged a formal complaint to the housing association via post on the 9th October but I still haven't received any correspondence whatsoever and as a result, I'd like to take this further."
This is the opening to my complaint to the Housing Ombudsman regarding a deposit I held with a housing association in good faith that has taken as of today, almost 3 months to refund, since that time while still looking for somewhat affordable property, my partner and I made the leap to rent a place to stay instead, but as my partner left their job and it hasn't been an immediate success to find work... It's not been great to find employment, because of the finances being tough, having a company try their luck to charge us for gas for which the house we rent is purely electric, bailiffs coming around to collect a debt in the previous tenants' name, and having a barrage of letters, fines, bills, invoices, etc... in the tenants and their company at our door hasn't been smooth for us. This is why I believe we should ask for some discretionary compensation for the inconvenience and for the fact we were told it would be refunded within 2-3 working days... back in September.
I filed the complaint via e-mail on the 25th of October 2023 and I shall be issuing the same complaint via post sometime later with photocopies of the contract.
I shall let you know of the progress of this affair.
