Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council has failed to carry out repairs to two of its properties as it is not within our legal remit to do so. We will not investigate Mrs X’s request that the Council pay for repairs she carried out to her property as we cannot achieve the outcome she seeks, and this is a matter for the courts.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains her rental property has been damaged due to the disrepair of two neighbouring Council owned properties. Mrs X seeks a refund of the cost of repair works she carried out to her property in respect of this and wants the Council to repair its properties. Mr X says she has been caused financial and mental strain.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
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 that any alleged fault has caused injustice to the person who complained, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants (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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Background

8. The properties either side of Mrs X’s property are owned by the Council and used for social housing.
9. The Council inspected Mrs X’s property, which is privately rented to a tenant, using its powers under the Housing Act 2004. Following this, the Council wrote to Mrs X advising that work was needed to the property to ensure it was legally compliant. The Council told Mrs X it may initiate formal enforcement proceedings if the work was not completed.
10. Mrs X says she caried out work totalling over two thousand pounds to comply with what the Council had told her needed to be done. Mrs X complains the work was only needed as her property was damaged by the disrepair of the neighbouring Council properties and that as such, the Council should not have forced her to do the work and should refund her for the cost of it.
11. Mrs X is also unhappy as she says there is ongoing delay in the Council responding to her complaint about these matters.

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My assessment

12. By law, we are not allowed to investigate the actions of the Council when it is acting from its function as a social housing provider. The properties either side of Mrs X’s property are used for social housing and a complaint about alleged fault by the Council to maintain these properties is therefore not within our legal remit.
13. I understand that Mrs X felt compelled to carry out work to her property, after the Council wrote to her, but it was her choice to do this. The Council’s letter was essentially a warning letter, and it was open to Mrs X to not carry out the work and challenge any formal action the Council might have decided to take, by way of appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).
14. Mrs X considers her property was damaged by the Council failing to repair its neighbouring properties and that it should therefore re-imburse her for repair costs. Here, Mrs X is essentially saying she has lost out due to Council negligence. We cannot determine such ‘damage’ claims as only a court is empowered to do so. It is reasonable to expect Mrs X to take legal action for the recompense she seeks, if the Council refuses to compensate her.
15. I recognise that Mrs X is frustrated by the Council’s handling of her complaint but as we will not investigate the substantive aspects of the complaint, we will not investigate this as a separate matter as it does not cause Mrs X a sufficient level of injustice, in isolation, to justify our involvement.

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Final decision

16. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s management of its social housing as it is not within our legal remit to do so. Mrs X’s claim for compensation for damage is a matter for the courts.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman