Summary: Mr D complained the Council has failed to take action to deal with the issues in his accommodation. He also says the Council has failed to deal with his complaints about the matter. We find the Council was at fault for failing to appropriately deal with Mr D’s complaints. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

The complaint

1. Mr D complained the Council has failed to take action to deal with the issues in his accommodation. He says he is experiencing disrepair issues and anti-social behaviour. He also says the Council has failed to deal with his complaints about the matter.
2. Mr D says the Council’s inaction is having a detrimental impact on his everyday life.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information from Mr D. I made written enquiries of the Council and considered information it sent in response.
6. Mr D and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Housing health and safety rating system

7. The housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS) is a tool used to help councils identify and protect against potential risks and hazards to health and safety from any deficiencies identified in dwellings.
8. The HHSRS assesses 29 categories of housing hazard. Each hazard has a weighting system which will help determine whether the property is rated as having category one (serious) or category two (other) hazards.
9. If the assessment finds a category one hazard, councils have a duty to serve a notice to the landlord to address the hazard. If the assessment finds a category two hazard, councils have discretion about whether to take formal action.

Supported exempt accommodation

10. This is shared housing where accommodation is provided alongside care, support, or supervision to help people live as independently as possible. It is not funded or commissioned by local authorities.

Anti-social behaviour

11. Councils have a general duty to take action to tackle anti-social behaviour. Anti-social behaviour can take many different forms; and councils should make informed decisions about which of their powers is most appropriate for any given situation. For example, they may approach a complaint as an environmental health issue where the complaint is about noise or pollution, or they may use their powers under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

What happened

12. Mr D has been living in supported exempt accommodation for many years. This is provided by a housing association.
13. Mr D complained to the Council in December 2021. He said there were security issues and maintenance issues in the property. He also said his support worker had not spoken to him for eight months and he wanted to understand why he had to live in the property.
14. Mr D chased the Council for a response to his complaint in January 2022.
15. Mr D made a further complaint in May. He said the Council had failed to respond to his previous complaints and it had provided him with unsuitable accommodation. He said maintenance had been carried out to a poor standard and some of the other residents were displaying anti-social behaviour.
16. The Council contacted Mr D and said it would visit the property to investigate the issues.
17. The Council inspected the property the following week. It noted there were five category one hazards and three category two hazards. It spoke to the managing agent about the anti-social behaviour issues. The managing agent stated the resident who was causing problems had left the property.
18. The Council sent a report to the housing association after the visit and asked it to provide evidence it had completed the works.
19. The Council responded to Mr D’s complaint. It said it inspected the property and there were some areas of improvement. It said it had given the housing association some time to repair the works. It also said it addressed the issues of anti-social behaviour with the managing agent.
20. The housing association contacted the Council a couple of weeks later and provided evidence it had completed the outstanding works.
21. Mr D emailed the Council and said he wanted to understand why it failed to respond to his previous complaints. He said the anti-social behaviour issues were ongoing, it had failed to answer the issues raised in his complaint and it had not explained why he was forced to live at the property.
22. Mr D sent two further emails to the Council a few weeks later chasing for a response. The Council failed to respond to Mr D’s emails.

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Analysis

23. The Council does not commission or fund supported exempt accommodation. However, it does have a duty to inspect property standards under the HHSRS when concerns are raised. It also has a general duty to take action to tackle anti-social behaviour. Therefore, it should properly consider complaints about such matters.
24. The Council failed to adequately deal with Mr D’s complaints. The Council says the first time it received Mr D’s complaint in the supported exempt accommodation team was May 2022. However, Mr D sent his complaint to the Council’s housing team in December 2021 and chased for a response the following month. The team should have sent Mr D’s complaint to the correct department, but it failed to do so. This means Mr D was put to time and trouble raising his complaint again.
25. When Mr D raised further concerns the Council had failed to appropriately address the complaint and the issues were still ongoing, it failed to respond. This caused Mr D further time and trouble and frustration chasing up a response. It is clear from the correspondence Mr D may not fully understand the Council’s role. The Council missed an opportunity to clarify this with Mr D.
26. The Council did inspect the property when Mr D’s raised concerns in May 2022. It asked the housing association to resolve the outstanding works, which it did to its satisfaction several weeks later. Therefore, I am satisfied it has addressed this issue. It also spoke to the managing agent about the anti-social behaviour issues. The managing agent said the resident causing the issues had moved out of the property, and the Council was satisfied with its response. The Council has also explained it did not witness anti-social behaviour when it visited the property.
27. Mr D said in a follow up email the anti-social behaviour issues had not been resolved. However, as the Council failed to respond further, it missed an opportunity to fully understand what the outstanding concerns were and whether it could address them. This has caused Mr D frustration and provides him with some uncertainty about whether his outstanding concerns may have been resolved sooner.
28. Mr D says the Council placed him in the property and he wants to move. He feels the Council has forced him to stay. The Council has no information on who placed Mr D in the property and there is no evidence it is forcing him to stay. However, if Mr D wants to move, the Council has explained it is the role of the support worker, who works for a company that provides help to vulnerable people, to explore alternative housing options.

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Agreed action

29. To address the injustice caused by fault, by 12 July 2023 the Council has agreed to:

• Apologise to Mr D.
• Contact Mr D to further understand the remaining issues he has with the property. The Council will then decide whether it has any powers to resolve these issues.
• Pay Mr D £200 for his time and trouble, frustration, and uncertainty.

30. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

31. There was fault by the Council, which caused Mr D an injustice. The Council has accepted my recommendations and so I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman