Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about service charges in temporary accommodation because Miss X has started court action against the Council on the same matter. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained that the Council charged her the wrong service charges for temporary accommodation.
2. Miss X says as a result of this, she accrued arrears, and the Council evicted her from the accommodation. She is now homeless.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
5. The courts have said that where someone has used their right of appeal, reference or review or remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the complaint and the information Miss X provided along with the Ombudsman’s legal powers.
7. Miss X and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

8. The Ombudsman previously considered this complaint and decided not to investigate it. Miss X told us she intended to ask a court to overturn our decision on this and two other complaints to us.
9. We agreed to withdraw our decisions and look at them again.
10. However, in her application to the court Miss X named both the Ombudsman and the Council as defendants.
11. The decisions she asked the court to review were made by the Ombudsman. But the remedy she sought, so far as is relevant to this complaint, was a “quashing order” of the Council’s decision to charge the service charges. She also wanted the Council to repay her what she paid in service charges.
12. In November 2023, a judge refused Miss X’s application for interim relief.
13. Miss X has, therefore, sought a remedy for the complaint she brought to the Ombudsman in court. For the reason set out in paragraph 5, this means the Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint.
14. I have therefore ended my investigation.

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Final decision

15. I stopped investigating this complaint. The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint because Ms X applied for judicial review of the same matter.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman