Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the accommodation the Council has provided to Miss X. This is because parts of her complaint are late and the Council has not had an opportunity to address repair issues in her current accommodation. We will not investigate the Council’s offer of alternative accommodation to Miss X as it has already addressed her concerns through the review process and there is nothing we can add to this.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council has placed her in a number of unsuitable properties since she became homeless in 2012. Miss X says the Council has failed to consider her disabilities when offering her accommodation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide it would be reasonable for the person to ask for an organisation review or appeal.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the council knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the council of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaints about temporary accommodation the Council offered her since 2012. This is because Miss X was provided with the accommodation over 12 months ago and so these are late complaints and we cannot investigate now.
9. We have the power to disregard this restriction where there are good reasons for doing so. However I cannot see why Miss X could not have complained sooner if she was unhappy with the accommodation she has been provided with since 2012.
10. Miss X was placed in her most recent accommodation in 2020. Miss X says there are repair issues which need to be addressed. The Council says the first time Miss X notified it of the issues was when she complained. The Council has said it will investigate and address any repair issues in Miss X’s accommodation. Therefore the Council has not had an opportunity to respond to the complaint. We would expect a person to raise an issue with the Council first before complaining. If Miss X is unhappy with the repairs or time taken to carry out the repairs she may make a new complaint to the Council.
11. Miss X says the Council offered her alternative temporary accommodation which was not suitable. Miss X asked the Council for a review of the suitability of the accommodation and it agreed the accommodation was not suitable. There is nothing further we can add to the Council’s review decision and Miss X is able to remain in her current accommodation.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because parts of her complaint are late and the Council has not had an opportunity to address repair issues in her current accommodation. We will not investigate the Council’s offer of alternative accommodation to Miss X as it has already addressed her concerns through the review process and there is nothing we can add to this.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman