Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to take action about disrepair in his rented property and the way the matter was handled. We have found the Council to be at fault because it failed to carry out an inspection on time and did not progress the case properly afterwards. To remedy the injustice caused by this fault, the Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Mr X, progress the case and improve its services. We have not found fault with the Council’s assessment of the disrepair itself or his claim of discrimination.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s failure to take action against his landlord about dangerous hazards in his rented property. He says his living conditions cause significant distress and are a risk to his health and well-being.
2. He also says the Council has discriminated against him by failing to progress his case.

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What I have investigated

3. The disrepair issues that led Mr X to complain to the Ombudsman first occurred in 2019.
4. The Ombudsman normally expects people to complain to us within twelve months of them becoming aware of a problem. We look at each complaint individually, and on its merits, considering the circumstances of each case. But we do not exercise discretion to accept a late complaint unless there are clear and compelling reasons to do so.
5. I see no reason why Mr X could not have complained earlier regarding his report of disrepair made to the Council in 2019. This part of his complaint is therefore late, and the Ombudsman will not exercise its discretion to investigate earlier events.
6. Therefore, I have only investigated the Council’s actions since 2020. I have only referred to what happened before to explain the context behind more recent events.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

7. 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)
8. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
9. 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

10. I spoke with Mr X and considered the information he provided. I also made enquiries of the Council and reviewed its files.
11. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I have considered all comments received before making this final decision.

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What I found

Housing Health and Safety Rating System

12. Private tenants may complain to their council about a failure by the landlord to keep the property in good repair. Local authorities have powers under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) to take enforcement action against private landlords where the council has identified a hazard which puts the health and safety of the tenant at risk. If a hazard is serious and presents an immediate risk, it is known as a category one hazard and if it is less serious or less urgent, it is known as a category two hazard. The council must take action when category one hazards are present and it is has discretion with regard to category two hazards.

What happened

13. I have set out below a summary of the key events. But it is not meant to show everything that happened.
14. Mr X and his wife moved into a privately rented property in October 2018. They both suffer with ill health. He says the electrics were faulty from the outset but gave his landlord opportunities to put them right. A dispute arose between the landlord and Mr X. As a result, the landlord sought to evict Mr X.
15. Mr X also reported the matter to the Council in 2019. The Council said it would not investigate while the eviction process was ongoing.
16. Mr X again contacted the Council about the condition of his privately rented property in March 2020. He says no action was taken.
17. The eviction was unsuccessful, and Mr X says the condition of his property remained unsafe. As well as the electrical faults, the property was affected by damp and condensation.
18. A year later he reported the disrepair to the Council again. The Council liaised with the landlord who said he was unable to inspect the property and carry out repairs because Mr X had refused access. The Council asked Mr X to facilitate this and explained the Council would not take action because the landlord was willing to sort out the problem. Mr X felt the Council was siding with his landlord and was unhappy about how this was communicated to his wife by the Council officer. Mr X says his wife was extremely distressed as a result.
19. Mr X felt the Council was not taking the matter seriously and so raised a formal complaint in March 2021.
20. The Council upheld this complaint and accepted it should have carried out an inspection sooner and arranged to do so in May 2021. At the same time the landlord arranged for an electrical contractor to carry out an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR). This concluded the electrics were unsatisfactory.
21. Mr X refused to allow the contractor to carry out remedial works because he was not confident the landlord was going to complete the work to a satisfactory standard. He complained to the relevant regulatory body about the standard of the EICR.
22. Mr X complained to the Council again in June 2021 because he had still not received a copy of the Council’s inspection report.
23. This report was forwarded to Mr X’s solicitor in July 2021. The report identified several category two hazards, including electrical hazards, damp and condensation. The Council said it would issue the landlord with a Hazard Awareness Notice (the Notice). This did not happen.
24. In August 2021, Mr X says he was hospitalised as a result of an electric shock. He says this is clear evidence that the electrics in his property are unsafe and should have been taken more seriously by the Council. His wife has also sustained injuries as a result of slipping on a wet floor due to extreme condensation.
25. Mr X says he has waited far too long for the Council to act regarding the hazards he had been reporting since 2019 and finally identified in the May 2021 inspection. His landlord will not carry out repairs because it has not been served with the Notice by the Council. There is ongoing legal action with his landlord. Mr X feels the Council has acted in a discriminatory way towards him and his wife because of their nationality and disabilities.

The complaint

26. The Council upheld the first complaint because it accepted it should have carried out an inspection sooner and before it made contact with Mr X’s landlord. It says it corrected this by carrying out the May 2021 inspection.
27. Mr X’s stage two complaint was not upheld because the Council was satisfied the landlord had since offered to carry out the works but access to the property was denied by Mr X.
28. In response to my enquiries, the Council has accepted there was delay in progressing this matter because:
1. there was ongoing legal action between Mr X and his landlord that the Council did not want to be involved in;
2. there was apparent willingness by the landlord to carry out remedial works; and
3. there were limited staff resources at the Council together with the impact of Covid-19 on staff working practices.
29. The Council offered to apologise to Mr X.
30. Mr X was dissatisfied with this outcome and so brought his complaint to the Ombudsman to investigate.

Analysis

Delay

31. Mr X complains the Council should have acted in 2020 when he told the Council he had not been evicted and the disrepair reported the previous year persisted.
32. There are no Council records, other than a note of Mr X’s initial report from this time. While the Council has referred to contact being made with the landlord, this seems to rely on records from the following year. Mr X says he did not hear anything from back from the Council and the in absence of any records to the contrary, my conclusion is that the Council did not respond to Mr X in any meaningful way. This is fault. Even if the Council had decided that no action would be taken, this should have been explained to Mr X. As it was, Mr X was left wondering what, if anything, was happening.
33. The records show Mr X next contacted the Council in March 2021. The Council has already accepted it was at fault for not carrying out an inspection straight away at this time. It took a further two months and a complaint from Mr X to do so. Mr X had to wait a further ten weeks for a copy of the inspection report. Despite confirming a Notice would be issued, this still has not happened, over a year since the date of the inspection. In response to my enquiries, the Council has indicated it will not take enforcement action because of the ongoing legal action between Mr X and his landlord and Mr X’s refusal to allow repairs to take place.
34. Again, this has not been explained to Mr X. While enforcement action is discretionary, Mr X should have been told that the Council had changed its mind. This is fault.
35. This chronology confirms there has been fault by the Council from its delay in progressing this case.
36. While I acknowledge there have been issues with Mr X allowing access to the property, I can see no reason for this to have impacted on the Council’s responsibility to inspect and issue any resulting reports and notices in a timely manner.
37. The Council should now confirm its current position regarding enforcement action to Mr X and I have made recommendations below to acknowledge the personal injustice to Mr X.

Category of hazard

38. I recognise Mr X disagrees with the Council’s assessment of the extent of the disrepair in his property. However, the law does not allow the Ombudsman to question a council officer’s professional assessment of a hazard if there is no evidence of maladministration in the way that the decision was made as is the case here. I cannot call the merits of a properly made decision into question, however strongly others may disagree. I do not find there was fault here.

Discrimination

39. I have found no evidence that the Council acted in a discriminatory way towards Mr X and his wife. The fault I have identified above would appear to be as a result of inadequate staffing and pressure of work rather than discrimination.
40. Mr X has also specifically complained about the way an officer spoke to his wife causing her considerable distress. The Ombudsman makes decisions on the balance of probabilities. This part of Mr X’s complaint is essentially one person’s word against another. There are no records or independent witnesses and the officer involved no longer works for the Council. As I am unable to establish what was said, I am unable to make a finding on this part of the complaint.

Injustice

41. The disrepair in the property is the responsibility of the landlord not the Council. I have seen evidence of the landlord’s attempts to engage with Mr X to resolve this. The records also show Mr X does not agree with the either the landlord’s or the Council’s assessment of the gravity of the disrepair. This has undoubtedly impacted on the current stalemate between the landlord and Mr X and lack of progress in resolving the matter to Mr X’s satisfaction.
42. In terms of injustice to Mr X caused by the Council’s fault, I cannot ignore this context. While the delay outlined above has clearly caused distress and frustration, I do not consider this has prevented the repairs being completed. Nor do I find the Council to be responsible for any injuries sustained by Mr or Mrs X.
43. For this reason, my remedy below is limited to the distress caused by the delay, poor communication as well as Mr X’s time and trouble dealing with this matter.

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Agreed action

44. To remedy the injustice to Mr X from the fault I have identified, the Council has agreed to take the following action within four weeks from the date of my final decision:
1. Apologise to Mr and Mrs X in writing.
2. Pay Mr X £500 in recognition of his avoidable distress, frustration, time and trouble. I have had regard to the Ombudsman’s Guidance on Remedies in making this recommendation.
3. Write to Mr X to explain its position regarding enforcement action.
45. The Council should also reflect on the issues raised in this decision statement and identify any areas of service improvement. The Council should prepare a short report setting out what the Council intends to do to ensure similar problems not reoccur. This report should be sent to the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

46. I have found the Council to be at fault and made appropriate recommendations that the Council has agreed to. On this basis I have completed my investigation.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

47. I have not investigated Mr X’s complaint about what happened in 2019 for the reason explained in this decision statement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman