Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about advice the Council gave to Mr X when he was selling his house. This is because there is no evidence of fault in the advice the Council gave about his obligations towards his tenant.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council failed to provide him and his tenant with help when he was selling his property. He says the Council’s actions caused him to incur unnecessary costs.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

2. I considered information provided by the complainant.
3. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. The Council has duties under the Housing Act 1996 to provide help to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness. The Council has not duty to provide assistance to landlords but it may provide advice to landlords if it is in the interests of the tenant to do so.
5. The Council has provided Mr X with advice about his legal obligations towards his tenant. There is no evidence of fault in the advice set out in the Council’s response to his complaint. Therefore, it is unlikely we would find fault in how the Council has dealt with this matter and we will not investigate this complaint.
6. Mr X has raised concerns about how the Council has dealt with his tenant. We do not have consent from his tenant for him to act on her behalf. In any case she may complain in her own right if she is unhappy with the Council’s actions. Therefore we cannot investigate how the Council has dealt with Mr X’s tenant.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is unlikely we would find fault by the Council.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman