Summary: Mrs X complains the Council has not dealt properly with a housing improvement notice. The Council is not at fault.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complains the Council has not enforced a housing improvement notice.
2. Mrs X says she is having to live with mould, is suffering health problems and some of her belongings have been damaged.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. Our role is not to ask whether an organisation could have done things better, or whether we agree or disagree with what it did. Instead, we look at whether there was fault in how it made its decisions. If we decide there was no fault in how it did so, we cannot ask whether it should have made a particular decision or say it should have reached a different outcome.
5. If we are satisfied with an organisation’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

6. I made enquiries of the Council and considered its response and the supporting documents it provided.
7. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

The Housing Act 2004

8. Private tenants may complain to their council about a landlord’s failure to keep the property in good repair. Councils have powers under Part 1 of the Housing Act 2004 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.
9. When it receives a report of an alleged hazard, the Council should, as soon as possible, inspect the property to establish the severity of the hazard and what, if anything, to do about it.
10. Councils must decide whether defects identified during the inspection are category 1 or category 2 hazards. Hazards are rated according to a formal scoring system in the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). Hazards are scored to reflect:
1. The class of harm the hazard is likely to cause, should an incident occur;
2. The likelihood of an incident involving a member of a vulnerable group; and
3. The spread of possible harms resulting from an incident.
11. Councils have a legal duty to take action when they identify a Category 1 hazard. They have discretionary powers to deal with Category 2 hazards. The Act provides councils with a range of enforcement tools to address hazards. Statutory guidance on HHSRS enforcement says the service of an Improvement Notice is a possible response to a Category 1 or Category 2 hazard.
12. The statutory guidance says that improvement notices can be suspended. The notice may specify an event which triggers the end of the suspension. In the case of category 1 hazards, the authority will need to consider very carefully whether a suspended notice is an appropriate way of responding.

What happened?

13. This is a brief chronology of key events. It does not contain everything I reviewed during my investigation.
14. The Council issued an improvement notice relating to Mrs X’s home after several category 2 hazards were identified during an inspection.
15. The Council revoked the original Improvement Notice and issued a suspended Improvement Notice in March 2022.

Analysis

16. I have seen the Suspended Improvement Notice.
17. The Council says issues in relation to damp and mould have been addressed because the following work has been undertaken:
• the guttering to the rear elevation has been inspected and repaired
• the guttering to the front elevation has been inspected and repaired
• the roof around the Velux type window has been repaired and internal plasterwork and decoration has been replaced/repaired
18. Dating back to 2020, the Council identified that hoarding within the property was preventing access to contractors. This limited works which could be undertaken.
19. The Council has reassessed the situation in 2022 and 2024 and found on both occasions that there had been no improvement.
20. The Council also says, “the remaining works on the notice require entry into the affected rooms and access to the affected areas by contractors to fully assess the likely cause of the internal damage and to evidence what action if any is to be required externally. We are yet to be informed, or indeed satisfied that internal conditions have been improved sufficiently to permit such work to be undertaken.”
21. The Council has informed Mrs X that, “if there is a reduction in hoarded levels within the property then an officer will be able to attend and reassess the situation, and, if appropriate, the Improvement Notice will be brought back into an active state and we will work with your landlord to undertake the required repairs.”
22. The Council has followed the law and guidance when considering Mrs X’s situation. It is able to suspend improvement notices for category 2 hazards and has made clear the circumstances which will trigger the end of the suspension. This is not fault by the Council.

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Final decision

23. I have not found fault by the Council. I have now completed my investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman