Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to Ms X’s reports of disrepair at her privately rented property. This is because an investigation is unlikely to add to that already carried out by the Council or lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Ms X, complains about the response she received from the Council to her reports of disrepair at her privately rented property and specifically about the actions of the officer dealing with her case who did not respond to her.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council, including its response to her complaint.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X complained to the Council that the officer who had been allocated her private housing disrepair case had not responded to her.
6. The Council investigated and found that while Ms X had said she had not received phone calls and an email from the officer, its records showed they had been made. The Council also noted that once contact between Ms X and the officer had been made, the officer offered to visit Ms X’s property a number of times without the offer being taken up.
7. While it is unfortunate that Ms X did not receive the calls and email sent by the officer, the Council satisfied itself that they had been made to her phone number and email address. Moreover, having made contact, the officer followed normal procedures in offering to come and visit Ms X’s property to see the disrepair but this offer was not taken up straight away.
8. As an investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to add to that already carried out by the Council or lead to a different outcome, we will not investigate the complaint.
9. If Ms X wishes to complain about any new matters, not covered by the Council’s response to her last complaint, she must first go through the Council’s complaints procedure before we will consider them. This is because, by law, we must give councils a reasonable opportunity to respond to a complaint.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because an investigation is unlikely to add to that already carried out by the Council or lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman