Summary: Mrs X complains about the Council’s illegal eviction of her family from their home. The Ombudsman cannot investigate the complaint because she has taken court action about the matter and so the complaint falls outside our jurisdiction.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mrs X, says the Council unlawfully evicted her family from their home. They have had to move into temporary accommodation and have been separated from their belongings and their pets.

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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 a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. In considering the complaint I reviewed the information provided by Mrs X and the Council. I gave Mrs X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

5. The Council owns a property in which Mr and Mrs X and their children lived for a number of years as it was a benefit of Mr X’s employment as a caretaker.
6. In 2015 Mr X was dismissed from his job. The Council had no involvement with the decision but following the dismissal the family was required to give up their occupation of the property but did not do so.
7. Mr and Mrs X took the Council to court arguing that the family should be able to carry on living in the property despite Mr X’s dismissal. They lost their case in 2017 and their subsequent appeals against the decision were also unsuccessful with the Courts ordering the property to be vacated.
8. The family were evicted at the beginning of 2020 and Mr and Mrs X took the Council to court again to challenge the circumstances of the eviction. The Court rejected the claim as did the Court which heard the appeal. They have appealed further and this final appeal is due to be heard shortly.
9. Mr and Mrs X’s family are currently housed in temporary accommodation by the local borough council. During this time there have been supervised visits with bailiffs to collect belongings from their previous property but the Council has refused the family’s request that they be allowed to move back to live temporarily in the property.

Assessment

10. The restriction highlighted at paragraph 3 applies to this complaint because Mr and Mrs X have taken legal action against the Council. The Courts granted possession of the property back in 2017 and the claim that the eviction was illegal has also been heard by the Courts. This means that the complaint falls outside our jurisdiction and cannot be investigated. We have no discretion to do so.

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Final decision

11. The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint. This is because Mrs X has taken court action about the matter and so it falls outside our jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman