Summary: We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about a broken fence in a Council owned property. This is because the complaint concerns the Council’s management of its social housing and so it lies outside our legal remit.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the Council’s failure to repair the fence to the council property next door. She says at present there is a gap in the fence through which a dog is able to access her property posing a risk to her baby.

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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 have considered what Ms X said in her complaint and also the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Assessment

5. The property next to Ms X’s is a Council owned property used for social housing. The Council’s actions Ms X complains about relate to its management of this property so we cannot investigate.

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Final decision

6. I cannot investigate this complaint as it relates to the Council’s management of its social housing and so lies outside our legal remit.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman