Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s investigation of repair issues at Mr X’s private rented home from 2022. This is because this complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. I have found no fault in the repairs which were reported in 2023 because the Council’s actions were proportionate to the matters he reported.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about different repairs to his rented home which he reported to the Council from September 2022. He says the Council failed to take enforcement action against his landlord and that other repair problems occurred in 2023 which the Council failed to take sufficient action over.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council’s response.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X reported repair issues with his private rented flat in October 2022 due to rainwater ingress from an extension roof. He believed the landlord was taking too long to rectify the problem which was causing dampness in his home. The Council inspected and identified repairs which the landlord subsequently carried out. We will not investigate these matters from 2022 because it was reasonable for Mr X to complain about the Council’s responses and to us if he believed they were insufficient. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wish to complain about, not when they complained to the Council or it issued its final response. We would expect someone to complain to us within a year, even if they were dissatisfied with the time the complaints procedure was taking.
7. Mr X reported new repair problems in August 2023 when a leak from the flat above caused water staining to his ceiling. The Council inspected and told him that the landlord had already repaired the leak. However, subsequent leaks resulted during the repairs period. The Council did not consider there were category 1 or 2 hazards present under the HHSRS recording system under the Housing Act 2004. The ceiling was not compromised by the leak in the Council’s view and required decorating when dried out but not repair or replacement.
8. Mr X says the Council should have taken enforcement action against his landlord. It is for the Council to consider if there are hazards present which would warrant a hazard awareness notice being served. An improvement notice would only be served if the landlord was failing to co-operate with the Council’s requirements for work and there is insufficient evidence that this was the case here.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s investigation of repair issues at Mr X’s private rented home from 2022. This is because this complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. I have found no fault in the repairs which were reported in 2023 because the Council’s actions were proportionate to the matters he reported.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman