Summary: We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaints the Council did not carry out checks on tenants it proposed in 2018 and it stopped paying housing benefit directly to him in 2021. This is because these complaints are late.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complains the Council did not carry out checks on tenants it proposed to him under its tenant finding service in 2018. He complains it stopped paying housing benefit directly to him as the landlord in 2021 resulting in rent arrears.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)
5. 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr Y is a private landlord, who, in 2018, secured tenants through the Lewisham Letting Scheme (a tenant finding service provided by the Council).
9. In September 2023, Mr Y first complained to the Council.
10. In October 2023 and August 2024, the Council sent Mr Y two separate stage one complaint responses. I have decided to exercise discretion on the prematurity of Mr Y’s complaint because the Council has had sufficient opportunity to investigate and reply.
11. Mr Y’s complaints concern events from 2018 and 2021 respectively. These complaints are late and there are no good reasons for us to exercise discretion.
12. In any case, the Council told Mr Y in its complaint response from August that it had carried out checks on the tenants, but no issues had been recorded. Mr Y misunderstood this to mean checks had not been carried out, but this is not evidence of fault.
13. Further, the documents show the Council paid housing benefit to Mr Y directly. It later told Mr Y that he needed to check with the tenants why they were no longer receiving housing benefit. The Council also explained it could not share the personal data on the tenants because of data protection reasons. Any fault did not cause Mr X significant injustice as the tenants remained responsible for paying rent in any event.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaints the Council did not carry out checks on tenants it proposed in 2018 and it stopped paying housing benefit directly to him in 2021. This is because these complaints are late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman