London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham (24 009 639)
Category : Housing > Private housing
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 04 Nov 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s request for the complainant to do repairs to a property the complainant rents to tenants. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mrs X, says the Council forced her to do unnecessary repairs to a property she rents to tenants.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council inspected a property that Mrs X rents to tenants. The Council identified some hazards in relation to damp, mould and excessive cold. The Council asked Mrs X to comply with some recommendations to reduce the hazards. The Council did not take formal action but Mrs X signed a letter of intention.
- Mrs X completed the work but says it was unnecessary and she incurred costs. She says she obtained advice from her builders who stated the work was not required. Mrs X says the tenants contributed to the issues and the Council threatened her with enforcement action when she mentioned getting legal advice.
- In response to her complaint the Council said a qualified officer had inspected the property in accordance with the Housing Health and Hazard Safety Rating System and government guidance for damp and mould. It explained, in detail, why the hazards existed and why the recommendations were appropriate. It said it disagreed with the views presented by Mrs X’s builders.
- The Council accepted Mrs X may have mistakenly thought she was being threatened but said the officer referred to taking a formal approach because, if the case remained at the informal level, there would be no enforcement action on which she could get legal advice. The Council said Mrs X would have had appeal rights if the Council had served a formal notice and it had correctly explained each notice incurs a charge. The Council said it could not provide a recording of telephone calls, as requested, because they were not recorded.
- I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. It is not my role to decide if the outcome of the inspection was correct or whether the repairs were warranted. I can only consider if there was fault in the way the Council made the decisions or responded to the complaint. The Council acted appropriately by seeking the views of a qualified officer and making recommendations based on those views following the inspection. I appreciate Mrs X disagrees with the findings but we cannot question the officer’s professional judgement or say whether the repairs were needed.
- The Council explained in detail why it decided the work was needed and addressed the specific points Mrs X raised. If Mrs X disagreed that the work was required she could have chosen not to do the work. If the Council had served a formal notice Mrs X could have appealed.
- Mrs X could have sought legal advice at any stage although the Council is correct when it said that, at that point, it had not taken any formal action which would have required legal advice; at the informal stage it was a disagreement over whether there were hazards requiring a repair. I can see why Mrs X may have thought she was being threatened with formal action or charges but I can also see the Council’s perspective; as such there is not enough evidence of fault to require an investigation.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman