Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his reports of disrepair and failure to offer temporary accommodation. The complaint is later and there are no good reasons to investigate now.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council had acted maliciously over the years and sought to evict him when he took action against it. He further complained the Council had never properly investigated his complaints.

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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 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)
4. 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)
5. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
6. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by Mr X and the complaint correspondence provided by the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

What happened

9. In March 2024, Mr X complained he had been forced to flee his home due to the conduct of the police and local residents in November 2023. He said he asked for temporary accommodation, which the Council declined.
10. In its complaint response, the Council:
• Said it could not address disrepair Mr X had reported because he would not allow access for it to do so. In a later response, it referred to court action in relation to the disrepair.
• Said it could not consider a request for temporary accommodation unless it could carry out an inspection to confirm Mr X’s current property as unsuitable due to disrepair.
• Said it was not responsible for the conduct of the police and explained how he could make a complaint about the police.
• Apologised for a delay in responding to the complaint at stage 2 of its process and offered to pay Mr X £225 to remedy the injustice caused.

My assessment

11. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events they are complaining about. Mr X complained to us in March 2025 about events from late 2023. I have seen no evidence to suggest he could not have complained to us earlier. He could have done so when the Council failed to respond to his complaint at stage 2 within its published timescales. Therefore, there are no good reasons to investigate events prior to March 2024.
12. In any case:
• It is likely that the complaint about disrepair relates to a Council-owned property and therefore that it is acting in its capacity as a social landlord when responding to such reports, which is outside our remit.
• The stage 2 report indicates there has been court action in relation to the disrepair. We cannot investigate complaints where court action has already been started.
• There is insufficient evidence of fault in the way the Council considered Mr X’s request for temporary accommodation to justify further investigation.
• We would not investigate complaints handling unless we are also investigating the underlying complaint. Even if we did investigate, the Council has already taken action to remedy the injustice caused by its delay and further investigation by us is unlikely to lead to a different outcome.
13. For all the reasons set out above, we will not consider this complaint further.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons to investigate now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman