Summary: Ms X complains that the Council failed to act on reports of disrepair to her temporary accommodation and failed to send her gas safety certificates. She also complains that the Council did not investigate her complaint fairly. Ms X says this caused her financial loss, impacted on her health, and caused her to lose her business. She also says the Council has harassed her. The Ombudsman does not find the Council at fault.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Ms X complains that the Council:
1. failed to act on her reports of disrepair;
2. failed to send her copies of gas safety certificates for the boiler; and,
3. has not investigated her complaint fairly.
2. Ms X says this has caused financial losses, has impacted on her health, and has caused her to lose her business. She also says the Council has harassed her.

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What I have investigated

3. The Ombudsman cannot investigate complaints that are more than 12 months after the complainant first had knowledge of the problem (see paragraph seven), unless there are good reasons to do so.
4. In this case, some of Ms X’s reports of disrepair go back to 2016. I have investigated the parts of Ms X’s complaint which are not more than 12 months old. The final section of this statement contains my reasons for not investigating the rest of the complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
6. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
7. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered the information and documents provided by Ms X and the Council. I spoke to Ms X about her complaint. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on an earlier draft of this statement. I considered all comments before I reached a final decision.
9. I have considered the relevant law and regulations, set out below.

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What I found

10. The Housing Act 2006 provides the legal framework setting out councils’ duties towards those who are homeless or threatened with homelessness in their area.
11. The Act says councils must ensure that suitable accommodation is available for people who have priority need, are eligible for assistance and who are unintentionally homeless. This is known as the main homelessness duty.
12. Once a council accepts it owes an applicant the main homelessness duty, it has a duty to provide them with accommodation. If longer term accommodation is not immediately available, the Council must provide short term temporary accommodation. The law says this accommodation must be suitable for their occupation, which includes ensuring properties are maintained to an acceptable standard.
13. The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (‘the Regulations’) say that landlords shall do gas safety checks every 12 months, and keep records of those checks for two years. The Regulations say records of these checks should be made available on request to the occupier/tenant. The Regulations says that landlords shall make sure that a copy of the record is given to the tenant within 28 days of the date of the gas safety check.

What happened

14. In 2014, Ms X presented to the Council as homeless. Shortly afterwards, the Council placed Ms X and her family in temporary accommodation.
15. In November 2018, Ms X complained to the Council about several issues, including that her previous landlords were ‘rogue landlords’ who used false documents and false information. She said she wanted the Council to prosecute them. She complained about the way the Council had treated her for five years. She complained about her benefits and how the Council managed her personal data.
16. The Council responded to Ms X’s complaint in January 2019. It said it would not investigate issues that were over 12 months old because Ms X had an opportunity to complain earlier. It said that because of the length of time that had passed, information would not be available for a full investigation.
17. The Council said some of Ms X’s complaint related to a property she was evicted from in 2014, which was dealt with in a complaint she made to the Council in 2017. It said Ms X did not opt for her complaint to be further investigated at the second stage of its complaints procedure. The Council said it could not go back and look at this again because of the time that had passed since then.
18. The Council said Ms X needed to raise her complaint about benefits with the Department for Work and Pensions.
19. Ms X asked that her complaint be dealt with at stage two of the Council’s complaints procedure. Ms X listed disrepair issues with her property between 2015 and 2018. She also complained that no gas safety checks were ever done on the property, and this placed her family at risk.
20. The Council sent its stage two response to Ms X in February. It said it was not able to investigate the parts of Ms X’s complaint that were over 12 months old or that related to the period before she presented to the homeless service in 2014.
21. The Council responded to each part of Ms X’s complaint. It signposted her to the correct Council department that deals with data and personal information management. It told her how to request copies of Council records.
22. About the disrepair issues, the Council said its officer who deals with disrepair cases spoke to Ms X’s landlord. The Council listed 12 issues that were successfully resolved since Ms X moved into that property.
23. The Council said that gas safety checks were done every October (2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018).
24. Ms X then complained to the Ombudsman.

Analysis

Reports of disrepair

25. Ms X complains that the Council failed to act on reports of disrepair (part a of the complaint). She disputes the list of repairs the Council said were carried out in its stage two response to her complaint.
26. The Council says a number of repair issues were reported to Ms X’s Council support worker which were then reported to the property’s managing agent/landlord.
27. I have seen evidence of a number of repairs made to the property. Lots of these are well over 12 months old, some dating back to 2016. As I have said in paragraph seven, the Ombudsman will not investigate complaints that are over 12 months old unless there are good reasons to do so.
28. As I have said in paragraph 46, I do not consider there are good reasons for me to investigate reports of disrepair that are over 12 months old. This is because Ms X had opportunities to complain to the Ombudsman before now.
29. Further to this, I have not seen any evidence that the Council has failed to act on any reports of disrepair within the 12 months before Ms X complained to the Ombudsman.
30. For these reasons, I do not find fault with the Council.

Gas safety certificates

31. Ms X complains that the Council failed to send her copies of gas safety certificates for the boiler (part b of the complaint).
32. The Council has a contract with providers of temporary accommodation (landlords). This says it is the landlord’s responsibility to do gas safety checks, retain copies of gas safety certificates, and provide a copy to the tenant. It says copies of these certificates should be made available to the Council when requested.
33. The Council says for a tenant to get a copy of a gas safety certificate, they can ask the Council, ask the landlord, or ask the Health and Safety Executive.
34. Ms X’s complaint to the Council was that no gas safety checks had been done. I have seen evidence that these checks were done in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 in line with the Regulations.
35. Ms X did not complain to the Council that it had not sent her copies of the gas safety checks. I have seen no evidence that Ms X asked for copies of these certificates. For this reason, I do not find that the Council failed to give Ms X copies of these certificates.
36. For these reasons, I do not find fault with the Council.

Complaint investigation

37. Ms X complains the Council has not investigated her complaint fairly (part c of the complaint). She complains that the Council will not look at events that are over 12 months old. She says the Council has not investigated in line with its procedure.
38. The Council has a similar policy to the Ombudsman, which is that it will not look at events that are over 12 months old. I find that the Council investigated Ms X’s complaint appropriately and in line with its policy.
39. It is not fault for a council to decide not to investigate matters that are over 12 months old. In this case, Ms X had a complaint with the Council in 2017. She decided not to exercise her right to ask for this to be addressed at stage two of its complaints procedure. It is not fault for the Council to decide it will not now revisit these parts of Ms X’s complaint.
40. The Council signposted Ms X to the right Council department to ask for copies of her personal records. It also signposted Ms X to the Department for Works and Pensions for the parts of her complaint about her benefits. This is entirely appropriate.
41. I find that the Council addressed every point Ms X raised in her complaint. I also find that it investigated in line with its procedures.
42. For these reasons, I find no fault in the way the Council handled or investigated Ms X’s complaint. Ms X disagrees with the Council’s response: this is not evidence of fault.

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Final decision

43. I have completed my investigation and I do not uphold Ms X’s complaint. This is because I have not found any evidence of fault in the Council’s actions.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

44. I have not investigated the parts of Ms X’s complaints about issues which are more than 12 months after she first had knowledge of the problem. Some of Ms X’s reports of disrepair go back to 2016.
45. Ms X complained to the Council in 2017. I consider this a reasonable opportunity for Ms X to have pursued the parts of her complaint about disrepair.
46. Overall, I consider that reasonable opportunities existed for Ms X to have pursued this matter in a more timely fashion, and within the time limits laid down in law. As such, I have decided not to exercise the Ombudsman’s discretion to investigate this part of Ms X’s complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman