Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that he has been excluded from a tenancy agreement. This is because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains he has been excluded from a tenancy agreement and says the Council discriminated against him.

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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 no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
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 considered the information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council’s complaints responses to Mr X says the Council did not have any direct relationship with Mr X. The Council says Mr X was part of a household with its tenant and is aware of civil proceedings linked to a relationship breakdown. But it says it was not a party to the civil proceedings between Mr X and its tenant, and it did not exclude him from any agreement. It also asked him to provide further information on the reasons he was alleging the Council had discriminated against him.
7. We will not investigate. This is because Mr X had no direct relationship with the Council so we could not achieve anything worthwhile by investigating as the Council had no obligations towards him. In any case, the law prevents us from investigating complaints about the actions of the Council as a registered social housing provider albeit in this case, Mr X was not in a landlord/tenant relationship with the Council.
8. The Council also asked Mr X to provide further information on the allegations of discrimination. This is an acceptable response by the Council given Mr X’s allegation is very general. Therefore, there is no remit for the Ombudsman to consider this complaint under any other aspect of its obligations such as the Council’s equality duty.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman