Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not paying Mr X for the claimed impact of plumbing problems. The law prevents us investigating such complaints.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council’s actions during repairs works resulted in a flat he owns lacking water for two months. He states that, while the Council later put right the water supply problem, it has not compensated him for his costs and for rental income he says he lost during the problems.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)
4. We cannot investigate complaints about the management of housing let on a long lease by a council that is a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5B, schedule 5, as amended)
5. Those restrictions prevent us investigating any matters ‘in connection with’ the points in paragraphs 3 and 4.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The Council is a registered social housing provider. The complaint is about events in a block of flats. The Council owns the building’s freehold. It is also the social housing landlord of some of the flats. Mr X owns the long leasehold of a flat in the block, which he rents out.
9. The complaint is about the Council’s actions concerning repair works in the building and problems reportedly resulting from those works. The complaint therefore relates to both the Council’s management of its social housing and its management of housing let on a long lease. So the restrictions in paragraphs 3 and 4 prevent us investigating the complaint. This applies not just to the Council’s works and the alleged resulting problems, but also to the Council’s handling of Mr X’s complaint about the matter. That is because the Council’s complaint-handling was ‘in connection with’ the matters listed in paragraphs 3 and 4.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the prevents us doing so.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman