Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his reports of disrepair because it is late. There is no indication Mr X could not have complained earlier and no good reason to decide to investigate now. Even if the complaint was not late, it is unlikely further investigation would lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failure to carry out appropriate inspections after he reported disrepair in his private rented sector property from May 2022 onwards. He said the Council did not identify a category 1 hazard and did not take enforcement action. He said an independent surveyor carried out an inspection in November 2024, which did identify a category 1 hazard. Mr X also complained the Council failed to share information with him or provide updates and failed to provide a full response to a subject access request.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. 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
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

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

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

What happened

7. Mr X reported disrepair in his private rented sector (PRS) property in May 2022. He says the Council inspected and he understood it would be serving an Improvement Notice, but it failed to do so. Mr X continued to report disrepair and says the Council inspected his property seven times but failed to take any enforcement action or share information with him.
8. In its complaint response, the Council said it last carried out an inspection using Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) in March 2024. On that occasion, it identified category 2 hazards and sent a Schedule of Works to the landlord. It said that, due to resource issues, it prioritises cases where category 1 hazards have been identified and does not follow up on cases where only category 2 hazards are identified. It accepted it had not sent copies of its inspection reports to Mr X because it did not routinely do so at the time, but it had reviewed its process as a result of the complaint and would provide information to residents about how to get reports in future. It accepted a failure by one officer to keep adequate records of action on the case but said the officer had since left the Council so it could not provide any further information about that period.
9. Mr X consulted a local law centre, which instructed a private surveyor to carry out an HHSRS inspection. The surveyor inspected in November 2024 and identified a category 1 hazard in relation to extreme cold. It is not clear when the report was provided to the Council but, in its complaint response, the Council said it could not compare this to its previous inspection report due to the passage of time.

My assessment

10. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events complained about. In this case, Mr X complained in August 2025 about events from May 2022. In its complaint response the Council said its last HHSRS inspection was March 2024, which was more than 12 months before the complaint to us. There is no indication Mr X could not have complained to us earlier and no good reason for us to decide to investigate now.
11. Even if the complaint was not late, it is unlikely further investigation would show the Council should have identified category 1 hazards earlier because that is a matter for the professional judgement of the environmental health officer (EHO). The fact that an independent surveyor identified a category 1 hazard in November 2024 does not, on its own, mean the Council should have done so in March 2024.
12. Councils are under a duty to take enforcement action where a category 1 hazard is identified and have a power, but not a duty, to do so when a category 2 hazard is identified. Therefore, it would not be fault for a council not to take enforcement action if only category 2 hazards were identified. Councils would usually notify the landlord of works required to address category 2 hazards, which the Council said it did, but it is the landlord’s responsibility to carry out the works identified.
13. It is therefore unlikely that further investigation would lead to a different outcome from the Council’s complaint response.
14. We do expect councils to keep proper records for the case, and the Council accepts it did not do so for the entire period it was considering Mr X’s case. Further, it is good practice to share a copy of the inspection report with the occupier and to keep them updated about any action being taken. However, I do not consider this caused sufficient injustice to Mr X to justify further investigation.
15. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is better placed to consider any concerns about the Council’s response to Mr X’s subject access request.

Back to top

Final decision

16. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons to decide to investigate now. Even if it was not late, it is unlikely that further investigation would lead to a different outcome.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman