Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s administration of its Accommodation Finding Service which Mr X says has been unsatisfactory for him as a private landlord using the service. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the scheme operated by the Council to assist private landlords with placing tenants off the Council’s homeless applicants on the housing register. He says previous tenants caused damage to his property and when he sought new tenants the Council ‘s officers were obstructive and made requirements of him as a landlord which were unreasonable and deprived him of rental income.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council. I have also considered the operation of the Council’s Accommodation Finding Service.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X says he previously rented a property to tenants under an agreement with the Council under the ‘Home Lets’ scheme. He was dissatisfied with the conduct of the tenants and says they damaged his property. In 2024 he attempted to let his home to tenants under a new scheme which is the Accommodation Finding service which replaced the previous scheme in 2022. He says that the Council’s officers treated his application to the scheme unfairly and that he was subjected to rigorous inspections under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System(HHSRS) which placed onerous requirements on him as a landlord.
6. Mr X complained to the Council because he says the officers have singled him out for compliance which is beyond what he believes other landlords are required to provide. As a result, he says he has been deprived of income which he could have received if the Council had approved his property and put forward a suitable Council tenant.
7. The Council’s says its Accommodation Finding Team do not make any agreements with anyone who signs up for the scheme until a 24-month assured shorthold tenancy is signed with a tenant provided by the Council from its housing list. When this has occurred, the landlord is entitled to a one-time payment incentive and a 5-week security indemnity deposit and an insurance scheme through the Council. The Council says it has not agreed any of these incentives because no tenant has been accepted under a tenancy agreement.
8. The Council refuted Mr X’s claims that its officers were unreasonably harsh in inspecting and requiring compliance with the Housing Act 2004 HHSRS requirements. The Council’s requirements are set out on its website and require that landlords meets specific housing standards including HHSRS compliance and the necessary gas, electricity and energy performance certificates.
9. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
10. I have considered the steps the organisation took to consider the issue, and the information it took account of when deciding to carry out inspections and safety checks. There is no requirement for a council to accept a landlord on the scheme and Mr X was free to find his own tenants to ensure his rental income if he was dissatisfied with the Council’s scheme requirements.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s administration of its Accommodation Finding Service which Mr X says has been unsatisfactory for him as a private landlord using the service. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman