London Borough of Islington (25 019 723)
Category : Benefits and tax > Housing benefit and council tax benefit
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 26 Mar 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about housing benefit for Mr X’s former tenant. This is because the complaint is late and there is no good reason for this.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council failed to support his former tenant to claim housing benefit. As a result, Mr X says the tenant did not pay rent from mid 2023 and was evicted. Mr X wanted the Council to assess and pay any potential housing benefit entitlement from 2023 to his company.
- Mr X says the Council delayed responding to his enquiries from January 2025 about housing benefit.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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).
- Councils can pay housing benefit direct to the landlord when the landlord advises there are arrears of eight weeks or more.
- We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended).
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complained to the Council in May 2025 regarding the matters in paragraph 1.
- The Council replied that it could not disclose information about his former tenant without the tenant’s consent. However, it confirmed the tenant’s entitlement to housing benefit had ended in 2019. The Council offered a remedy for its delays in responding from January 2025.
- We will not investigate this complaint because it is late and there is no good reason for this. Mr X was aware his tenant had not paid rent from July 2023, and housing benefit had stopped years before. However, he did not raise a complaint with the Ombudsman until November 2025. In any case we could not investigate a failure to assist the tenant without their consent.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there is no good reason for this.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman