Northern Ireland watchdog ‘concerned’ over landlord’s response to reports of tenant’s anti-social behaviour

She also found that while Clanmil eventually took action on other complaints about gas cylinders, CCTV cameras and the tenant keeping five dogs, it had taken too long to do this.

She said the 6,000-home association “could, and should, have addressed these elements at a much earlier stage of its complaints process”.

“Overall, I was concerned to note the apparent apathy displayed by Clanmil Housing in investigating these matters,” she added.

“The complainant made a number of reports of ASB and raised a number of complaints over a protracted period of time without any proactive action by Clanmil Housing to try to resolve them.

“I find this concerning.”

Ms Kelly recommended Clanmil write a written apology to the neighbour, arrange a home visit to discuss any current issues and give training to its staff on handling ASB.

She also said the landlord should provide evidence within three months of her report to show it had taken action to make sure staff understand how to deal with ASB, including “robust interviewing” and providing “full, accurate and timely responses”.

Clanmil told Inside Housing that it has “apologised to the complainant for our shortcomings in dealing with his original complaint”.

“Our aim is to provide homes for people to live well, and we are sorry that we fell short of this on this occasion,” it added.

The landlord said it values feedback and is committed to improving by learning from situations where it could have done better.

“Following this complaint, we had already reviewed and revised our complaints, ASB and pet policies,” it said.

“In line with the ombudsman’s requirements, we acted promptly to develop and submit an action plan outlining how the recommendations would be implemented.

“All actions identified within that plan have been completed in full.”

The report in full can be found here.