Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council (25 003 370)
Category : Housing > Private housing
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 17 Aug 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council threatening him with legal action after serving him with notices issued to him as a private landlord. It was reasonable to expect Mr X to use his legal rights to appeal to the First Tier (Property Chamber) Tribunal against the notices.
The complaint
- In short, Mr X complains the Council has acted illegally by making false statements about his refurbished rental property and threatening him with legal action.
- Mr X says the Council has failed to provide any evidence and has caused him and his tenants’ incalculable stress. Mr X would like the Council officer responsible to be punished.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council’s responses.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X is a private landlord. And he complains about the Council threatening him with legal action by inviting him to attend an interview under caution. This arises in connection with notices previously served on Mr X about his private rented property.
- The notices served on Mr X carried a right of appeal to the First Tier Tribunal for landlords who wish to challenge the validity of the notice.
- It was reasonable to expect Mr X to use his legal rights to appeal to the specialist tribunal and we will not separately investigate any matters in connection with the serving of the notice such as the matters Mr X raises now to the Ombudsman.
Final decision
- We will investigate this complaint about matters related to the Council issuing notices to a private landlord. It was reasonable to expect Mr X to use his appeal rights to the First Tier (Property Chamber) Tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman