Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions over a complaint of housing disrepair. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council failing to take sufficient action against her social housing landlord over disrepair issues. She says that it should prosecute her landlord over the repairs and it misled her about charges for housing inspections.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Ms X says that the Council has failed to prosecute the housing association with whom she is a tenant over disrepair which she says has been ongoing since 2011. The Council inspected the property following a complaint by Ms X about disrepair in March 2021. The Council officers inspected with staff from the housing association and agreed that five repairs identified under the HHSRS (Housing Health and Safety rating System) would be dealt with.
6. Ms X subsequently complained that the Council had not prosecuted her landlord and that it had told her she would be charged over £300 for a repairs survey inspection.
7. The Council told her that the landlord’s contractor was still carrying out some scheduled works and asked her to confirm when the work was complete. The Council does not charge tenants for HHSRS investigations, and the charge refers to that levied on landlords if formal notices are served under the legislation. The Council did advise her that if she wished to commission her own private survey of the property then she would have to do this at her own expense.
8. Councils have powers under the Housing Act 2004 to inspect rented property and serve improvement notices where the landlord has failed to comply with repairs they have specified. These powers are subject to government guidance and they are advised to seek co-operation of landlords to complete the works before any enforcement should be considered.
9. The Council responded within a reasonable timescale and the landlord agreed to carry out the works as required.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions over a complaint of housing disrepair. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman