Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council managed temporary accommodation for homeless households. This is because the complaint relates to issues raised in 2018 and 2019 so it is a late complaint and there are no good reasons to investigate now. The Council has also not had an opportunity to respond to current concerns about the accommodation from current residents.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains on behalf of her clients, Ms Y and Ms Z. Ms X says the Council placed Ms Y and Ms Z in unsuitable temporary accommodation and failed to carry out necessary repairs to the building where they were living.
2. Ms X says the issues raise have caused Ms Y and Ms Z distress. Ms X says other families have also been affected by these issues.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the council knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the council of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The issues Ms X raises date back to 2019 and 2020. The Council responded to complaints from residents in September 2019 but the complaints were not taken further. Ms X raised a complaint on behalf of a number of residents in July 2019 but the Council did not respond until July 2020.
9. Ms X complained to the Ombudsman in September 2021. Therefore this is a late complaint.
10. We have the power to disregard this restriction where there are good reasons for doing so. Whilst there have been significant delays in the Council responding to Ms X it would be reasonable to expect Ms X to have come to us sooner if she was unhappy with the Council’s response. The Council responded to Ms X in July 2020 but she did not complain to the Ombudsman until September 2021. Therefore I cannot see any good reason why Ms X or any of the residents could not have complained to us sooner.
11. I have considered whether there is a public interest reason for us to investigate this complaint as Ms X says residents are still experiencing difficulties at the accommodation. The issues Ms X has raised date back to 2018 and 2019 and both Ms Y and Ms Z are no longer resident at the accommodation. The Council has not been given an opportunity to respond to current concerns about the accommodation from current residents and so we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is a late complaint and there are no good reasons to investigate it now. The Council has also not had an opportunity to respond to current concerns about the accommodation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman