Summary: A tenant of a housing association complained about the Council’s failure to move him from his property after he received threats of violence. But the Ombudsman cannot investigate this matter. This is because the Council has had no role in the tenant’s rehousing, and we have no jurisdiction to consider a complaint against a housing association.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall call Mr X, complained that the Council had unreasonably failed to move him from his property following threats of violence made against him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if, for example, we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. In particular we investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. But we cannot investigate the actions of social housing landlords such as housing associations. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34A, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Mr X provided with his complaint and when we spoke on the telephone. I also gave Mr X an opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision before I reached a final view. In addition I took account of the Council’s response to my enquiries in Mr X’s case.

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What I found

5. A few years ago Mr X became the tenant of a property owned by a housing association (‘the Association’).
6. Last year Mr X had a disagreement with some people who had been forcing their way into his property, after which someone made a threat to kill him.
7. As a result Mr X approached the Association for a move to alternative accommodation. However the Association did not agree to re-house him despite his many contacts with them about this matter
8. Recently another person broke into Mr X’s property and made threats to harm him and another local resident. The following day a gang forced their way into the other resident’s property and violently assaulted him.
9. Mr X immediately contacted the Association to ask for urgent help. But he was not satisfied with their response, and he felt they were not acting quickly enough given the seriousness of his situation. Mr X then complained to the Ombudsman.

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Analysis

10. However, I consider the Ombudsman cannot become involved in Mr X’s complaint.
11. In particular, following a discussion with Mr X it became clear that his complaint was about what the Association had done in his case, and he had complained to the Ombudsman because he thought the Association were part of the Council.
12. Councils do have certain legal duties to assist people who apply to them for housing because they are homeless or threatened with becoming homeless.
13. In addition the Council and the Association are both members of a regional lettings scheme which involves several local councils and housing associations. Most of the members’ vacant properties are advertised and let though this scheme, and each council is ultimately responsible for the way applications for housing in its own area are dealt with.
14. I made enquiries to the Council to check if Mr X had applied to it for re-housing. But the Council confirmed Mr X had not made a housing application, either through the regional lettings scheme or under the homelessness legislation. The Council also said it was not providing any social care services to Mr X at present.
15. In the circumstances I do not see that the Council has had any involvement regarding the issues in Mr X’s complaint. It seems the Association have been dealing with Mr X’s case as an internal housing management issue, and they have considered his requests for a move under their own re-housing policies.
16. As a result we have no jurisdiction to become involved in Mr X’s complaint about the Association’s failure to help him move to alternative accommodation.

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Final decision

17. The Ombudsman cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council had unreasonably failed to help him move from his property after he received threats of violence. This is because Mr X’s complaint relates to the actions of his housing association, and we have no jurisdiction to consider complaints about housing associations.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman