Peterborough City Council (20 013 591)

Category : Housing > Private housing

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 23 Mar 2021

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s failure to assist him in connection with tenants in his rented property who have not paid their rent. We will not investigate the complaint because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault sufficient to warrant investigation and Mr X has appeal rights to the Information Commissioner in relation to his Freedom of Information request.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, says the Council has not assisted him with matters relating to tenants in his rented property who have not paid their rent. He says as he has a selective landlord licence it should assist him and that a Freedom of Information request he made in connection with the matter was heavily redacted.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:
  • it is unlikely we would find fault, or
  • the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
  • the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
  • it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
  • it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
  • we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
  • there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
  1. The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about freedom of information. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So where we receive complaints about freedom of information, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.

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How I considered this complaint

  1. In considering the complaint I spoke to Mr X and reviewed the information he and the Council provided. I gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision and considered what he said.

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What I found

  1. Mr X owns a property which he rents out to tenants and for which he is required to have a selective landlord licence from the Council.
  2. The tenants in the property did not pay their rent and Mr X began legal action to evict them. He complained to the Council, seeking information about advice the tenants had received from the Council.
  3. The Council delayed in responding to his complaint and apologised for this. It told him that due to data protection rules it could not disclose the advice given to his tenants. However, it gave him some general advice from the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities which sets out how local authorities should deal with homelessness and in particular with tenants who are served with a notice to leave their accommodation.
  4. Dissatisfied with the Council’s response, and because he considered it should be assisting him with his tenant issues, Mr X complained to us.

Assessment

  1. If Mr X is unhappy with the information he has been provided with by the Council in response to his FoI request, it is open to him to contact the Information Commissioner about this matter.
  2. While Mr X is required to have a selective landlord licence, and the information on the Council’s website says it can provide supporting measures to curb anti-social behaviour and help landlords deal with problem tenants, the Council is not under a duty to assist Mr X because his tenants have not paid their rent.
  3. In responding to my draft decision Mr X says the Council has not lived up to the information it provides on its website about supporting landlords under the selective licensing scheme and that this support is part of the agreement with landlords who pay the selective licence fee. However, the information from the website Mr X has quoted from says the Council is considering additional measures in addition to selective licensing, and while it refers to improving education and effective support for landlords this does not mean it will be assisting landlords to the degree Mr X envisages when tenants do not pay their rent or damage property.
  4. Mr X has also expressed his view that evicted tenants should not be accepted on to the Council’s housing waiting list. However, this is a matter for the Council to decide in each case and it is not a matter we will investigate.

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Final decision

  1. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault sufficient to warrant investigation and Mr X has appeal rights to the Information Commissioner in relation to his Freedom of Information request.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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