Summary: Ms D complains the Council failed to properly administer her property under its Managed Rent Guaranteed Service. The Council has already told Ms D it failed to carry out management visits to the property and has apologised. The Ombudsman has not found any additional evidence of fault. He has completed the investigation. The complaint is upheld because of the one error by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant (whom I refer to as Ms D) says the Council failed to correctly administer her property under the Managed Rent Guaranteed Service (Service).

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What I have investigated

2. I have looked at whether the Council gave additional undertakings, outside of the Management Agreement, to Ms D about how it would handle the property.
3. I explain below why I cannot consider the rest of the complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We cannot investigate a complaint if it is about certain types of commercial transactions. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5a, paragraph 3, as amended)
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
6. 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

7. I have spoken to Ms D and considered the information she provided. I asked the Council questions and considered its response.
8. I shared my draft decision with both parties and considered their comments.

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What I found

What happened

9. In October 2017 Ms D emailed a Council Officer about her intention to let her property via the Council’s Service. She told the Officer she wanted the tenants to leave the property in the same condition it was let. The Officer did not confirm this would happen in writing. In addition, he clarified the notice of termination process.
10. Ms D subsequently signed a contract with the Council with it acting as the Agent for her property. In November 2019, the Council wrote to Ms D with a notice of termination of the contract. It was ending the Service because the scheme had not been cost effective. Ms D contacted the Council and said promises had been made, via email, in 2017 about the property being returned to her in its original condition and the Council would give her two months notice. The Council replied this was not correct and she had misunderstood the details of the contract.
11. Ms D lodged a formal complaint in 2020 and again the Council explained the contract and that no additional promises had been made to her. It accepted that it had not inspected the property as required during the course of the contract and apologised. Ms D pursued her complaint and the Council told her it could not comment on the contract as she could challenge it in court.

What should have happened

12. Under the Service the Council acted as an Agent for private rental properties. It had a contractual agreement with a landlord setting out respective duties including notice of termination.
13. Under the Service the Council would inspect the rental property twice a year. The contract specifies what recourse the landlord and Agent had regarding damage to a property.

Was there fault by the Council

14. The Council has already accepted with Ms D that it failed to carry out the usual number of inspections to her property. It has apologised. There is no outstanding injustice to Ms D as a result. Any damages to the property are a matter for her to pursue under the contract via the courts.
15. I have not found any additional evidence of fault. Ms D says the Council gave undertakings in emails, but the emails do not state any agreement to return the property to her in the same condition as it was let. It also does not say the Council will give her an additional period of notice to that already set out in the contract. It is evident from consideration of the case the majority of Ms D’s concerns fall under whether the Council has breached its contract with her. The Ombudsman cannot comment on the contract itself and whether or not the Council is in breach. That is a matter for the courts to determine.

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Final decision

16. I have completed the investigation and upheld the complaint because of the one error by the Council.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

17. The Ombudsman cannot consider if there has been a breach of contract, that is a matter for the Courts.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman