Summary: We have not investigated a complaint about delay by the Council in addressing repair issues in a temporary accommodation property, because it is late. There was fault in the way the Council then carried out the repairs, but the Council is currently negotiating a settlement about new matters with the complainant’s solicitor, which means there is no value to further investigation by us. The Council was at fault because it signposted the complainant to the wrong Ombudsman scheme to pursue her complaint further. Although this did not cause her an injustice, the Council has agreed to ensure its staff understand which scheme to refer complainants to in future.

The complaint

1. I will refer to the complainant as Miss F.
2. Miss F complains the Council:

• has delayed taking action to address damp and disrepair in her temporary accommodation property, since she first began reporting shortly after moving into the property in 2022; and
• while work to repair the property has now been undertaken, the Council did not complete all work listed in the schedule it issued, and has not addressed new problems uncovered during the repair work.

3. Miss F says the Council’s failure to promptly address the disrepair has had significant physical and emotional health impacts on her and her young child.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
5. 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)
6. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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What I have and have not investigated

7. When she contacted the Ombudsman in March 2025, Miss F said she wished to complain about the Council’s handling of the disrepair going back to when she first raised it in 2022.
8. The law says a person should approach us within 12 months of becoming aware of the issue they wish to complain about. This is called the ‘permitted period’. Any complaint which falls outside the permitted period is late, and we generally will not accept it for investigation.
9. The law does allow us to apply some flexibility to this rule, and we can investigate late complaints where we consider there is good reason for the delay. However, in this case, I am particularly conscious Miss F approached us previously in March 2024. We could not accept her complaint then, as Miss F had not yet completed the Council’s complaints process, but she did so a few weeks later and that point it became eligible for investigation us. Despite this, Miss F did not return to us for nearly a year.
10. This being so, I do not consider there are good reasons for Miss F’s delay in bringing the first part of her complaint to us, about the delay in addressing the problems with the property, and so I will not disapply the time restriction in this case. I have therefore not investigated this element of her complaint. My investigation will instead cover only the second part, concerning how the Council completed the work.

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How I considered this complaint

11. I considered evidence provided by Miss F and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
12. I also shared a draft copy of this decision with each party for their comments.

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What I found

13. In June 2022 the Council placed Miss F in a temporary accommodation property, where she has remained since. Soon after this she began raising complaints with the Council about various aspects of the property, including that it was damp, mouldy, and that it was difficult to heat and keep warm. In December of that year the Council carried out an inspection of the property, which identified a range of problems with it.
14. In November 2023 Miss F made a stage 1 complaint to the Council. She said, despite the survey, the Council had done nothing more to resolve the problems with the property. The Council replied in December, apologising, and saying it would need to arrange a new inspection due to the passage of time.
15. The Council completed the second inspection a few days later.
16.  
17. In March 2024 Miss F approached the Ombudsman. She described the problems she had been experiencing and the effect on her and her daughter, but said the Council had still not taken any action to fix the property. We explained to Miss F we could not accept her complaint for investigation yet because she had not completed the Council’s complaints process. Miss F submitted a stage 2 complaint to the Council shortly after this.
18. In April the Council responded. It explained it had now arranged for contractors to carry out work to the property to address the problems with damp and could, and that this work would begin shortly. The Council provided Miss F a copy of the schedule of works to be undertaken.
19. The Council says all works in the schedule were completed by May 2024.
20. In March 2025, Miss F approached the Ombudsman again. She said the Council had not completed all the works listed in the schedule, and that, during a pre-work inspection, further problems were identified which the works did not address.

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Analysis

21. Miss F has identified three particular items on the schedule, which she says were not completed at the time – the replacement of an extractor fan in the bathroom, the installation of a new glazing unit to house the fan, and for the kitchen fan to be connected.
22. I asked the Council to explain when it had completed each item listed on the April 2024 schedule of works. In response it provided a copy of the completion report, which includes a series of photographs of the work, and commented:

“We do not have [dates] for every job that was competed, a work order is raised with the scope of works to our contractor, they then liaise with the resident to arrange for the works to be completed. All work for this property that was scoped by our surveyor was completed on 23/05/2024.”

23. The Council’s comments do not, therefore, permit me to verify whether each item of work was completed. However, the Council has also confirmed it has issued a new schedule of works to address other issues at the property, and provided a copy of this. Listed on the new schedule are the three items mentioned by Miss F – which implies strongly they were not completed during the original round of works, as she says.
24. I am satisfied this amounts to evidence of fault by the Council. I will consider the implications of this shortly.
25. Miss F also complains new problems were uncovered during the pre-work inspection, and that the Council again failed to address these.
26. I also asked the Council for its comments on this. It explained Miss F has now engaged solicitors to pursue this issue, and the Council is working with them to reach a settlement and agree compensation for Miss F. It has also agreed a new schedule of works, as I have already noted, and is arranging for contractors to visit the property for this purpose.
27. We are prohibited by law from investigating any matter which has been put to court. From the Council’s description it does not appear Miss F has made an application to court, and so this restriction does not (yet) apply here. However, even accepting this, I do not consider further investigation by us will achieve anything more than the agreement which Miss F is likely to reach through her solicitors. This being so, I consider it most appropriate to discontinue my investigation of this element of Miss F’s complaint.
28. I have found fault on the earlier part of Miss F's complaint, and I am satisfied this represents an injustice to her, in the form of frustration and distress. However, again, I am conscious Miss F has sought and achieved a remedy through her solicitor, which includes both compensation, and for the missed work to now be completed. This being so I do not consider it would be appropriate for the Ombudsman to recommend an additional remedy.
29. Separately, I note that, in its response to both Miss F’s stage 1 and 2 complaints, the Council signposted her to the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS) if she wished to pursue her complaint further.
30. The HOS investigates complaints from social housing tenants about their landlords, which can include councils. However, people placed in temporary accommodation are not social housing tenants, in the legal sense, and complaints about the condition of their accommodation fall to us to investigate, instead of the HOS. The Council should therefore have signposted her to us, not the HOS, and so this is fault.
31. I do not consider this caused an injustice to Miss F, because she correctly made her complaint to us anyway. But I still recommend the Council should take steps to ensure its staff signpost complainants to the correct Ombudsman scheme.

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Action

32. Within one month of the date of my final decision, the Council has agreed to circulate guidance to relevant staff, to ensure they are aware that complaints about conditions in temporary accommodation (as distinct from permanent social housing) fall within the jurisdiction of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, and not the Housing Ombudsman Service.
33. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

34. I find fault causing injustice, but which the Council has already remedied.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman