Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s advice to Mr X’s tenant regarding his possession action and rent arrears. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about advice given by the council to his tenant who is in rent arrears and has been issued with a possession order. He says the Council should re-house the tenant under its homeless duty and make her pay the outstanding rent allowance which she has received from the Department for Work and pensions (DWP).

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mr X is a private landlord who is owed substantial rent arrears by a tenant of one of his properties. He says he served a s.21 possession notice on the tenant in 2024 and later obtained a possession order from the court. The tenant has remained in his property and intends to do so until bailiffs execute a warrant for eviction.
6. Mr X says the Council advised the tenant to remain in the property against the advice to tenants in the government’s homelessness code of guidance. Councils have a duty to inform tenants about their rights to remain in a property after a court order has been granted but cannot use this as a reason for avoiding their homelessness duty. It may be that a tenant chooses to remain rather than accepting interim accommodation or is facing a decision that they may not be accepted for accommodation by the Council.
7. The Council told Mr X that it did not advise the tenant she should remain but that the tenant told the Council of her intentions. It cannot force payment of housing allowance from universal credit to the landlord because this is administered by the DWP. Mr X says he has appealed to the DWP already to receive the payments.
8. The Council cannot disclose details of any homeless/housing application made by the tenant without their consent due to data restrictions under the GDPR. We cannot disclose any third-party information without their consent.
9. As a private landlord Mr X has recourse to the courts to recover any unpaid rent and costs due from the tenant and it is not the duty of the local authority to do this.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s advice to Mr X’s tenant regarding his possession action and rent arrears. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman