Summary: Ms T complains that there was fault in the way the Council responded to her concerns about disrepair in her privately rented house. The Ombudsman is satisfied the Council acted appropriately by liaising with the landlord to get repairs completed. The Council was at fault in that it delayed significantly in responding to Ms T’s complaint. But this did not alter the outcome and the Council has apologised so the Ombudsman will not pursue this issue further.

The complaint

1. Ms T complains that there was fault in the way the Council responded to her concerns about her privately rented property.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered all the information provided by Ms T, made enquiries of the Council and considered its comments and the documents it provided.
5. I have written to Ms T and the Council with my draft decision and given them an opportunity to comment.

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What I found

Legal and administrative background

6. Private landlords are responsible for ensuring rented accommodation is maintained to a certain standard. This includes carrying out repairs and making sure appliances are safe to use.
7. Councils have powers to deal with disrepair to privately rented properties. When a council has reason to believe there is serious risk to the health and safety of an occupier it must inspect the property (Housing Act 2004). Officers should determine the category of hazards identified in accordance with the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (England) Regulations 2005 (‘the Regulations’). Where a category 1 hazard is identified, they must take appropriate enforcement action. This may include serving an improvement notice setting out what the landlord must do to stop the hazard. They can also choose to take action with regard to less serious ‘category 2’ hazards if they think it necessary.
8. Government guidance is that, if a landlord agrees to take the action required by a council, it might be appropriate to wait before serving a notice provided the landlord starts the work within a reasonable time.

Key facts

9. Ms T, who is disabled, was living in a private rented house with her children.
10. In October 2017 there was a gas leak from the cooker. Ms T telephoned a gas engineer who capped off the cooker to make it safe. He told her the gas safety certificate she had been given by her landlord was false.
11. On 22 November 2017 Ms T contacted the Council stating her landlord had visited late the previous night demanding rent even though it was up to date. An environmental health officer (EHO) telephoned Ms T a few days later. The officer’s notes of this conversation state, “This is the first time the landlord has called the property at unsociable time. Tenant has also received text messages (non-threatening) from the landlord”. The officer advised Ms T what constitutes harassment and advised her to call again if there were any further incidents.
12. Officers carried out a Land Registry search the same day to obtain the landlord’s details. The search showed the property had two owners, but their address was recorded as Ms T’s address.
13. On 16 January 2018 Ms T’s MP wrote to the Council about hazards at the property. The Council responded confirming the environmental health team would contact Ms T. An EHO wrote to Ms T on 16 March 2018 explaining the Council had received enquiries from her MP about repair issues but, according to its records, it had not received a formal request from Ms T for help with this. The officer asked Ms T to contact the environmental health team if she needed help with repairs.
14. On 2 July 2018 Ms T contacted the Council reporting disrepair including: water running through the skylights; defective floorboards in the bathroom and hallway; damp; rain penetration around windows; and a cracked bedroom window.
15. The following day Ms T contacted the Council again complaining about harassment by her landlord. She said she was frightened and felt the situation was getting out of control. An officer responded saying he would try to contact the landlord to ask him to assess the repair issues and asked Ms T to clarify her concerns about the alleged threats. He also asked her for the landlord’s contact details. Ms T explained she did not have an address for him.
16. A few days later an EHO wrote to Ms T explaining the Council would carry out searches to identify possible addresses for her landlord and would then write to him about the harassment and repair issues.
17. Having carried out various searches, the Council obtained potential addresses for the property owners and wrote to them on 11 and 17 July 2018. The landlord’s partner responded providing the landlord’s address. The Council then wrote to him about Ms T’s allegations and advised him to conduct any contact with her in a professional manner. It also sent details of Ms T’s repair complaint and asked him to write to her to discuss the issues.
18. On 31 July 2018 the landlord wrote to the Council confirming works would be carried out.
19. On 6 August 2018 Ms T telephoned the Council stating the engineer who came to carry out the repairs was the same person who had issued the fake gas safety certificate.
20. On 14 August 2018 Ms T made a stage 1 complaint against the environmental health department.
21. Environmental health officers asked Ms T to provide copies of the gas safety certificates so they could ensure a valid certificate was in place as soon as possible.
22. On 5 September 2018 the landlord reported: the floorboards had been replaced; windows checked; a gutter identified as overflowing; and a gas safety check undertaken. The EHO told the landlord he must arrange for a gas safety check by a GAS Safe registered engineer because the previous contractor was not registered. The Council then issued a notice requiring a gas safety certificate and the landlord agreed to arrange for another contractor to visit.
23. On 3 October 2018 Ms T told the Council: her boiler had been condemned; there was no hot water or heating, the skylight was defective; and the bathroom was in disrepair. The landlord confirmed he was seeking quotes for replacing the boiler.
24. The following day an officer inspected Ms T’s property under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and found a category 1 hazard in respect of excess cold. He found the heating was inadequate and would not provide the temperatures recommended in the HHSRS guidance. He recommended the landlord install gas central heating or electric storage heaters.
25. On 15 October 2018 engineers attended but would not carry out work because of the condition of the property.
26. On 19 October 2018 the Council served a Minded to Notice on the landlord stating that a number of repairs were noted at the inspection which could be in contravention of the Regulations and that it was considering issuing an Improvement Notice. The Council listed all the required repairs and stated that remedial work should be carried out within four weeks. The landlord confirmed he was working to resolve the problems.
27. On 6 November 2018 the Council warned the landlord that if he did not carry out the required work it would issue an Improvement Notice and he would incur costs.
28. On 23 November 2018 the Council received a letter from Ms T’s MP. It responded within a few days with an update.
29. In December 2018 the landlord confirmed a new boiler was to be installed in January 2019. However, Ms T left the property a few days later.
30. On 2 January 2019 Ms T contacted the Council saying the landlord had changed the locks on the house while her belongings were still in there. The Council explained it had no powers to deal with this matter but would contact the landlord and advise him to contact her to arrange access to collect her belongings. The Council did so on 9 January 2019.
31. On 16 January 2019 the landlord told the Council he had not heard from Ms T despite texting, telephoning and posting a note through the letterbox of her new address. The Council had also sent several emails to Ms T asking her to contact the landlord to arrange to collect her belongings. The same day Ms T contacted the Council stating she had finally been allowed access to collect her belongings but, because of a flood, they had been ruined. She had to apply for a loan to replace the items.

Analysis

Gas safety certificate

32. Ms T says the Council should have taken action to deal with the gas safety certificate when she first reported the issue in November 2017.
33. The Council’s notes of Ms T’s contact in November 2017 show she reported a gas leak where the landlord didn’t assist. The Council referred the absence of a gas safety certificate to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). In September 2018 it alerted the landlord to the requirement to provide a gas safety certificate issued by a GAS Safe registered engineer.
34. There are no grounds to criticise the Council for referring the matter to the HSE in November 2017. The HSE is responsible for enforcing the requirements for landlords to undertake gas safety checks rather than local councils. However, the Council has now put arrangements in place so that in future, as well as referring tenants to the HSE, it will also bring the matter to the landlord’s attention at the outset.

Disrepair

35. Ms T says the Council delayed in bringing the disrepair issues to her landlord’s attention. She says she reported the issues in November 2017 but the Council did not contact the landlord until July 2018.
36. The Council’s record of the telephone conversation with Ms T in November 2017 shows she complained about harassment and was advised to call again if there were any further incidents. The notes make no reference to her reporting any disrepair issues.
37. The first record of disrepair issues being reported was in January 2018 when Ms T’s MP contacted the Council about this. The Council’s records show it wrote to Ms T in March 2018 asking her to contact it with her concerns but she did not do so until 2 July 2018. I find the Council delayed in contacting Ms T following the MP’s letter. But I do not consider this caused her a significant injustice because she did not respond until three months later. The Council could not deal with the disrepair issues without further information from Ms T.
38. Once Ms T provided details of disrepair in July 2018, the Council carried out searches to find the landlord’s address and wrote to him within two weeks. Although the matter was not formally allocated to an investigating officer until 17 August 2018, I am satisfied officers contacted the landlord well before this.
39. It is the landlord’s, rather than the Council’s, duty to maintain the accommodation. The Council has powers to take formal action where a landlord does not carry out necessary works. But if officers are satisfied the landlord is cooperating, they are entitled to decide that formal action is not appropriate. This is a matter for their professional judgement.
40. In this case, the landlord agreed to carry out the necessary works and said he had done so on 5 September 2018. The Council was unaware that works were still outstanding until Ms T reported on 3 October 2018 that there were still issues. Officers carried out an inspection the following day.
41. The only serious hazard found by officers during the inspection was the lack of heating and they took action to ensure the landlord replaced the boiler (albeit this was not done before Ms T left the property).
42. I appreciate Ms T considers the Council should have done more to compel the landlord to take action. But it is not required to take enforcement action in respect of hazards which do not amount to a category 1 hazard.
43. With regard to the lack of heating, which is a category 1 hazard, officers liaised with the landlord and monitored progress. They were entitled to conclude that no formal action was required until the engineers declined to carry out the work. At this point officers issued a Minded to Notice.
44. For the reasons set out above, I find no fault on the Council’s part.
45. The Council accepts there was an opportunity when Ms T first made contact for it to be more proactive and bring the matter to the landlord’s attention and potentially discover and remedy any significant housing hazards at the earliest possible stage. However, I do not consider its failure to do so was fault. The Council’s approach was in accordance with its enforcement policy which states that it will use advice, guidance and support as a first response to assist individuals in rectifying breaches as quickly and efficiently as possible, avoiding the need for formal enforcement action. This is also in accordance with Government guidance.
46. I also find the Council was not at fault in failing to prosecute the landlord for his failure to provide Ms T with his current address as this is a legal matter and there is no provision for the Council to prosecute the landlord in such circumstances.

Ms T’s belongings

47. Ms T says the Council failed to help her recover her belongings when the landlord changed the locks.
48. The Council does not have legal powers to recover possessions on behalf of tenants. However, where possible, it will try to assist the tenant. In this case, the investigating officer contacted the landlord and reminded him of his legal obligations and asked him to facilitate Ms T recovering her belongings. The officer also attempted to contact Ms T but was unable to do so.
49. I am satisfied with the Council’s actions in this regard.

Delay in responding to Ms T’s complaint

50. Ms T made a formal complaint on 14 August 2018. The Council did not respond until 7 February 2019. This was fault.
51. The Council says that, although there was a delay in formally responding, the environmental health operations manager contacted Ms T by telephone to discuss the complaint. However, this was not until 2 November 2018, some 11 weeks after Ms T complained.
52. The Council accepts the delay in formally responding to Ms T’s complaint was unacceptable and has apologised for this.
53. I do not consider the delay in responding to Ms T’s complaint caused her a significant injustice because, if the Council had responded sooner, this would not have made any difference to the overall outcome because officers were continuing to take action to resolve the disrepair issues.

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Final decision

54. I find no fault in the way the Council handled Ms T’s concerns about disrepair in her property.
55. I find the Council was at fault in that it delayed significantly in responding to Ms T’s formal complaint. But I do not consider this caused her a significant injustice. In any event, the Council has apologised for this.
56. I have completed my investigation on this basis.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman