Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint about the Council paying a rent credit into a council tax account. This is because the Ombudsman has no power to investigate a Council when it is acting as a landlord.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, complains the Council applied her overpayment of rent to a council tax debt. Mrs X complains the Council should have refunded the rent overpayment to her. She denies having council tax arrears.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered Mrs X’s complaint and her correspondence with the Council. I invited Mrs X to comment on a draft of my decision.

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What I found

5. Mrs X rents a property from the Council and paid too much rent over a period of months.
6. Mrs X contacted the Council about the overpayment. It was calculated that Mrs X had overpaid by over £700.
7. Mrs X complains the Council transferred this payment to a council tax debt that she is not liable for instead of refunding it to her.
8. Mrs X complains that she has suffered financial loss and stress due to the overpayment not being refunded. Mrs X also complains about the time it took the Council to respond to her complaint.
9. The Council advised that when calculating the overpaid rent, it made standard checks within other departments of the Council. The checks established that Mrs X was liable for a council tax debt, which had progressed to enforcement action. It contacted Mrs X and advised that it would be applying the overpaid rent to the council tax debt, and this would reduce the amount owed and stop enforcement action. Mrs X would then be able to set up a continuous payment for the rest of the council tax owed.
10. The Council provided Mrs X with a payment of £50 to acknowledge the delay in initially addressing the issue of her rent overpayment.

Assessment

11. I cannot consider Mrs X’s complaint about the decision to apply the overpayment of rent to a council tax debt. This is because the decision was made by the Council acting as a social landlord to Mrs X. Legally, I cannot consider complaints about the Council acting as a landlord.
12. The Ombudsman will not consider complaints about complaint handling where we are not investigating the substantive complaint. As I am not investigating Mrs X’s complaint about the overpayment, I will not investigate the part of her complaint about the Council’s delay in responding to the complaint.

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Final decision

13. I cannot investigate this complaint. This is because I cannot consider complaints about the Council acting as a landlord.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman