North Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council (25 017 465)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Mr B’s complaint that his property has been damaged due to the Council’s failure to maintain a property it owns. This is because we cannot investigate complaints about the management of social housing by a council acting as a social landlord.
The complaint
- Mr B complains his property has been damaged by the Council’s failure to promptly fix a guttering defect at the adjoining property, which is owned and managed by the Council. Mr B says the Council has not confirmed it has fixed this defect and has not provided a suitable remedy for the damage, delay and disruption he has experienced.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr B.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr B owns his property. The adjoining property is owned and managed by the Council.
- Mr B’s complaint is about the Council’s management of the adjoining property in its role as a social landlord. We cannot investigate complaints about the management of social housing by councils.
- This restriction to our powers applies to complaints about the handling of maintenance and disrepair issues at Council-owned properties. This restriction also applies even if, as with this complaint, the person who has complained is not a Council tenant.
- This means we cannot investigate the issue Mr B complains about and have no discretion to start an investigation.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mr B’s complaint because it is about the management of social housing by the Council as a social landlord.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman