London Borough of Redbridge (24 002 687)

Category : Housing > Other

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 02 Dec 2024

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint that the Council damaged Mr X’s property whilst carrying out repairs to the adjoining property, which is a owned by the Council. This is because we cannot investigate complaints about the management of social housing by a council acting as a social landlord.

The complaint

  1. Mr X complains that the Council are responsible for damage to his property after it carried out repairs to the adjoining property, which is owned by the Council.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
  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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by the complainant.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

  1. Mr X owns his property. The adjoining property is owned and managed by the Council.
  2. This complaint is about the Council’s handling of repair works to one of its properties in its role as a social landlord. We cannot investigate complaints about the management of social housing by a council acting as a social landlord. This restriction to our powers applies to complaints like this complaint which are about repair and improvement works. This restriction also applies even if the person making the complaint privately owns their property, like Mr X. I have no discretion to start an investigation into Mr X’s complaint.

Back to top

Final decision

  1. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it concerns the actions of the Council in relation to its role as a social housing landlord.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Print this page

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings