Private housing

Recent statements in this category are shown below:

  • London Borough of Croydon (18 002 685)

    Statement Not upheld Private housing 20-Sep-2018

    Summary: Mr X complains the Council supported him to move into a property it knew to be uninhabitable, and refused to act against the landlords. The Council is not at fault. The Council's discretionary housing payment team was unaware the property was uninhabitable. Once the Council was aware of the issues it made Mr X several offers to support with a move out of the property and carried out a suitable investigation into Mr X's landlord.

  • Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council (17 019 633)

    Statement Upheld Private housing 17-Sep-2018

    Summary: there was no fault in the way the Environmental Health Service investigated Miss X's complaint about poor housing conditions in her former private rented accommodation. But there was fault in the way it handled her complaint.

  • Birmingham City Council (18 000 033)

    Statement Upheld Private housing 07-Sep-2018

    Summary: The Council is not at fault in sending a letter to Mr X notifying him of repairs required to a property. But the Council was at fault as its contact centre did not appropriately deal with Mr X's telephone calls about the letter. As a result Mr X was put to avoidable time and trouble and caused anxiety as he had to make a number of unnecessary telephone calls. The Council has agreed to remedy Mr X's injustice by apologising and making a payment of £100 to acknowledge the injustice caused to him.

  • London Borough of Enfield (16 018 533)

    Statement Upheld Private housing 07-Sep-2018

    Summary: Miss X complains the Council has failed to effectively manage or monitor the installation of a new boiler in her home under its 'Warm and Healthy Homes' scheme. The Council's lack of communication and delay in carrying out remedial works amounts to fault causing an injustice. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice.

  • Coventry City Council (17 018 229)

    Statement Upheld Private housing 31-Aug-2018

    Summary: Miss X complains the Council gave incorrect advice to her former tenant Mr Y, which worsened and prolonged tensions with Mr Y at the property. There is no evidence allowing a finding the Council's tenancy advice to Mr Y affected the situation in this way. The Council delayed in dealing with Miss X's complaint, and made an error in its stage one complaint reply. But the Council has apologised for the delay, and corrected the error at stage two of their complaint process.

  • Sunderland City Council (17 009 928)

    Statement Not upheld Private housing 30-Aug-2018

    Summary: Mrs X had financial assistance from the Council to carry out repairs to her home. She complained about the way the Council's contractor, Sunderland Care and Support's Home Improvement Agency, carried out its role in that work. The Ombudsman does not find fault with the Home Improvement Agency's actions.

  • Leicester City Council (18 002 922)

    Statement Not upheld Private housing 28-Aug-2018

    Summary: Mr X complains about information the Council gave him when he was taking eviction proceedings against his tenants. I have decided to discontinue my investigation. It was open to Mr X to pursue the matter in court.

  • London Borough of Enfield (17 015 136)

    Statement Upheld Private housing 17-Aug-2018

    Summary: The complainant says the Council did not properly manage an application for its Empty Property Grant Scheme. To mitigate his loss, the complainant says he was forced to let out his property privately and not to the Council. However, the Council told him he was in breach of contract. The complainant also says the Council did not properly investigate his complaint. The Ombudsman finds the Council acted with fault but it acknowledged that fault and reduced the complainant's contribution to the costs of works and that is a fair and proportionate remedy.

  • London Borough of Barking & Dagenham (17 012 428)

    Statement Upheld Private housing 15-Aug-2018

    Summary: The Council failed to investigate an alleged illegal eviction and left the landlord with an unnecessary threat of a criminal prosecution handing over his head for over 18 months. The Council also made other unfounded and unproved accusations against the landlord and took them into account when considering his application for a selective licence. The Council delayed in dealing with complaints from the landlord and did not address the issues he raised. The Council will apologise to the landlord and pay him £3,000. It will improve the way it investigates private sector enforcement.

  • Medway Council (18 001 225)

    Statement Upheld Private housing 13-Aug-2018

    Summary: Miss X complained about how the Council dealt with private housing disrepair issues and her homelessness situation. The Ombudsman has found fault with the Council because it failed to take a homelessness application when it should have done. It has agreed to the Ombudsman's recommendations to remedy the injustice caused.

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