Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about leasehold charges. The law prevents us investigating such complaints.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the Council’s actions about money the Council says Ms X owes from when she leased a home from the Council. She says the Council mishandled the matter in various ways, including getting a court order without prior warning, telling Ms X she still owed £2,375.75 despite previously saying she had cleared the debt, and not explaining an inconsistency of £640.48 in the account.

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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 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)
4. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and copy complaint correspondence from the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Council is a registered social housing provider. The restriction described in paragraph 3 above prevents us investigating complaints about “…action taken by or on behalf of the authority in connection with the management of dwellings owned by the authority and let on a long lease…” This complaint concerns the Council’s actions “in connection with” debts allegedly accrued under such an arrangement. So, we cannot investigate the complaint.
8. Part of the complaint also includes the Council’s handling of court action against Ms X, who states the Council got a county court judgement against her without prior warning. The restriction in paragraph 4 prevents us investigating the “commencement or conduct” of court action. That covers the action complained of here. So, we cannot investigate the point about court action for this reason, as well as it concerning residential leasehold management.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is about something the law prevents us investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman