Summary: Mr X complained about the Council referring a housing benefit overpayment to enforcement agents. The Ombudsman should not exercise his discretion to investigate this complaint. This is because it was received outside the normal 12-month period and it was reasonable for him to appeal the housing benefit overpayment to an independent tribunal in 2015.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains that the Council pursued him for a housing benefit overpayment of over £700 in 2015. He disputes that he is responsible for the debt as a landlord. In 2019 bailiffs appointed by the Council contacted him about recovering the unpaid debt.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
4. The Social Entitlement Chamber (also known as the Social Security Appeal Tribunal) is a tribunal that considers housing benefit appeals. (The Social Entitlement Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered all the information which Mr X submitted with his complaint and he has had an opportunity to comment on the draft decision.

Back to top

What I found

6. Mr X is a private landlord and in 2019 he was contacted by bailiffs about an unpaid housing benefit overpayment relating to one of his tenants. He says that the overpayment was generated in 2015 and that he disputed it with the Council at the time. He believes it is unreasonable to pursue him now after several years have passed.
7. The Council says it informed of the overpayment in 2015 and he had an opportunity to appeal against the decision to the independent benefits tribunal. Mr X did not enquire about this until the Council began recovering the overpayment and was out of time to submit an appeal after that. The Council forwarded the debt to its enforcement agents when the debt remained unpaid.
8. The Ombudsman cannot normally investigate complaints which were received more than 12 months after the complainant became aware of the matter. We would not exercise any discretion on this where it was reasonable to pursue an appeal to an independent tribunal. In this case Mr X was aware of his right to appeal the overpayment but did not do so within the required timescale.

Back to top

Final decision

9. The Ombudsman should not exercise his discretion to investigate this complaint. This is because it was received outside the normal 12-month period and it was reasonable for him to appeal the housing benefit overpayment to an independent tribunal in 2015.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman