London Borough of Tower Hamlets (22 013 554)
Category : Housing > Homelessness
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 13 Feb 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Miss X complains about the Council’s failure to resolve her complaint about a bed bug infestation in her temporary accommodation in 2020. We will not investigate this complaint which was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.
The complaint
- Miss X complains the Council sent her an unsatisfactory response to her complaint in 2020. She says her temporary accommodation was infested with bugs that caused her physical and mental injuries. She said she had to book herself in to budget hotels to get some sleep.
- Miss X would like a financial remedy for her emotional distress and physical injuries suffered. She would also like to be compensated for having to stay in budget hotels and the loss of her possessions that she had to leave behind due to bugs.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
- The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant about her complaint.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- I will not investigate as Miss X has made her complaint late. I do not see good reasons to investigate now as I have seen nothing to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner than she has.
- Further it may be that even if she had complained in time, we would not investigate. This is because it is likely she would have had statutory rights of appeal to the county court about the suitability of the accommodation. And it would have been reasonable to expect her to resort to her legal remedy.
Final decision
- I will not exercise discretion to investigate this late complaint. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman