Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council has caused damage to her property which it has not rectified. The complaint is outside our legal remit as it relates to the Council’s management of its social housing.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council has caused damage to her property and has not rectified it.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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

3. I have considered what Mrs X said in her complaint.

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What I found

4. Mrs X lives next door to a Council owned property and complains in carrying out repairs to its gutters, the Council has damaged her gutter. Mrs X wants the Council to repair the gutter or reimburse her if she gets a private company to do the work.
5. By law, we have no remit to investigate the Council’s actions relating to its management of its housing stock.

Analysis

6. We cannot investigate this complaint because the injustice Mrs X describes arises from action the Council has taken in the process of managing one of its homes. The law says such matters are not within our remit.

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Final decision

7. My decision is that we cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint as it is about the Council’s management of its housing and is therefore not within our legal remit.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman