Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council refusing to allow him to evict a tenant from his property. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to investigate these matters.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council refused to allow him to evict a tenant from his property in 2019 despite the tenant causing significant damage. Mr X says that as a result he became homeless, and the Council’s actions caused him to suffer from ill health and financial loss.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X’s complaint concerns the actions of the Council when he wanted to evict a tenant in 2019. Mr X made a complaint to the Council about its actions. The Council considered the complaint through its two stage complaints procedure in 2019. It did not uphold his complaint.
6. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint as it is late, and Mr X was aware of the matters he is complaining about in 2019. We are mindful that Mr X suffers from ill health but we consider this would not have prevented him from making the complaint to us sooner. Furthermore, the events are around six years old which compromises our ability to carry out a reliable investigation due to the passage of time. So, there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to investigate Mr X’s complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman