Private housing

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (19 001 855)

Statement Not upheld Private housing 18-Oct-2019

Summary: Mr X is a private landlord. He complained the Council misled him when it offered to pay his tenant's (Ms Y's) rent arrears. He said this has caused him huge financial loss and the Council should pay Ms Y's outstanding debt. There is no evidence the Council is liable for the debt. There is no fault with the Council's decision not to pay Mr X.

Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council (19 000 778)

Statement Not upheld Private housing 09-Oct-2019

Summary: Miss C complains about the Council's decision not to prosecute her landlord for illegal eviction and the way it conducted its investigation. She also complains about the Council response to protect her property. The Ombudsman does not find fault with the Council.

London Borough of Waltham Forest (19 001 173)

Statement Not upheld Private housing 03-Oct-2019

Summary: There is no evidence of fault in how the Council investigated Miss X concerns about the tenant of a commercial premises using her gas supply.

City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (19 001 126)

Statement Not upheld Private housing 03-Oct-2019

Summary: Mr C says the owner of the house next-door carried out building works that caused dampness in his house which made family members ill. He says the Council is at fault for a failure to accept this and for failing to take enforcement action having said it would. The Council was not at fault. The Council made a professional judgment that the damp was caused by condensation. It never said it would take enforcement action against the neighbour and could not do so as it does not accept he is responsible.

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council (18 008 768)

Statement Upheld Private housing 23-Sep-2019

Summary: The Council investigated Mr X's complaints of disrepair at the property he rented and there is no evidence of fault in how it reached its decision not to take formal action against the landlord. However, the Council is at fault as it did not pursue some of Mr X's complaints with the landlord and it delayed in responding to Mr X's complaint but these faults did not cause significant injustice to Mr X.

London Borough of Lewisham (18 010 629)

Statement Upheld Private housing 20-Sep-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman found fault by the Council on Mr K's complaint about the way it investigated his tenant's report of harassment. Its record keeping was poor, and it failed to deal with his complaints according to its complaint's procedure. The agreed action remedies the avoidable injustice caused.

North Hertfordshire District Council (18 019 464)

Statement Upheld Private housing 10-Sep-2019

Summary: Ms X complains the Council failed to take appropriate action following her complaint about poor living conditions in her privately rented home. She says this has affected her health, led to legal costs and caused her distress. The Council is at fault. There was delay in contacting her after she initially complained which led to increased risk of harm. The Council has agreed to pay her £200 as an acknowledgement of this and for the distress caused.

Brighton & Hove City Council (18 018 035)

Statement Upheld Private housing 06-Sep-2019

Summary: The complaint is about the Council's lack of action about private sector housing disrepair and serving a Notice to a wrong address. The complainant says this meant he was not protected by rules against eviction. The Ombudsman upholds the complaint because of poor record keeping. But we do not agree with the analysis of the injustice this led to.

London Borough of Harrow (18 010 318)

Statement Upheld Private housing 29-Aug-2019

Summary: there was no fault in the way the Council investigated Mr X's reports of poor housing conditions and a mice infestation in his private rented flat. There were some instances of poor communication and complaint-handling. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and this is a satisfactory remedy.

London Borough of Harrow (18 015 722)

Statement Upheld Private housing 29-Aug-2019

Summary: the Council failed to respond to Mr X's requests for a report following an officer's inspection of housing conditions and a mice infestation in his flat. That was fault but it did not cause any injustice.