Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council failing to hand back and re-letting a property which was let on a private lease to a landlord. we will not investigate this complaint. It was reasonable for Mr X to seek a remedy from the courts for any breaches of his private agreement with the Council.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council failed to inform him that its tenants had vacated his property which he lets to the Council under a private agreement. He says he missed the opportunity to seek an early surrender of the lease and recover his property while it was empty. As a result, he had to wait for the lease to expire and then for the Council to remove the tenants using the court possession process which could take many months. He says the Council should pay him £10,000 for his missed opportunity.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered 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 says he missed the opportunity to recover a property which he rents to the Council under a private lease agreement. The property became vacant in December 20204 when the tenant placed by the Council left but he says he was not notified about this. He says if he had been he would have asked the Council for an early surrender of the lease but instead the Council put new tenants in the property.
6. The lease with the Council expired in March 2025 and he says he will now have to wait for the Council to remove the tenants through the court possession procedure which may take many months. He did not want to renew the lease because he says the Council has failed to increase the local housing allowance and so his rental income would remain static under a new lease.
7. The Council accepted that it should have informed him about the vacation of the tenants but there were months of the lease remaining and without any notice from Mr X about recovering the property it concluded it should use the remaining period for new tenants with a view to Mr X renewing the lease.
8. We cannot determine whether the Council has breached the terms of a private lease agreement with Mr X. This is not a statutory tenancy matter and the Council only has a direct rental agreement with the tenants it has placed there. We cannot say if any early surrender of the lease would have been acceptable. The lease terms and any compensation for breaches with the landlord is a private legal arrangement and can only be determined by the courts.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council failing to hand back and re-letting a property which was let on a private lease to a landlord. we will not investigate this complaint. It was reasonable for Mr X to seek a remedy from the courts for any breaches of his private agreement with the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman