Summary: Miss X complained about the Council’s actions in relation to a business she runs in a Council-owned property. We have not investigated all aspects of her complaint, as it would be reasonable for her to pursue some matters through the courts. We find the Council at fault for poor communication, failure to act as promised, and poor complaint handling. This caused Miss X avoidable uncertainty, distress, and time and trouble. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Miss X, and take steps to improve its services.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s actions regarding a business she runs in a Council-owned property. She says the Council has failed to:
1. provide her with a lease since August 2022;
2. issue accurate utility bills;
3. carry out annual rent reviews; or
4. respond to her communications or complete agreed actions.
2. Miss X says the Council’s failure to provide accurate and timely information has affected her ability to plan and manage the financial costs of her business effectively.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(1), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

5. 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)
6. Miss X could take matters a), b), and c) concerning the lease, utility bills, and rent reviews to court. I consider it reasonable for her to do so, so I have not investigated these parts of her complaint.
7. 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)
8. Miss X says the Council’s poor communication (matter d) has been ongoing since 2022. However, she did not complain to us until March 2025. I have not seen good reasons for the delay, so part of this complaint is late. I have therefore only considered events from March 2024 onwards, within 12 months of her complaint to the Ombudsman.

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How I considered this complaint

9. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
10. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

What happened

11. Below is a summary of key events based on my review of all the evidence provided about this complaint. At the start of these events, Miss X had several unresolved matters with the Council.
12. In March 2024, Miss X asked the Council for an update. The Council replied the same day, saying the case was under review but was complex which meant it was taking longer than expected to progress.
13. In April, after chasing again, the Council provided an update. Shortly afterwards, the officer handling the case left, and a new officer was appointed who promised an update the following week.
14. When no update was provided, Miss X chased repeatedly through April, May and June. In May, she asked to make a formal complaint.
15. In June, the Council arranged a face-to-face meeting with Miss X for July. Following this, actions were agreed, and a follow-up call was arranged. A further meeting took place, and the Council said work was ongoing.
16. Over the summer, Miss X continued to request updates. The Council said it would respond, but often did so later than promised, citing delays.
17. In September, the Council failed to notify Miss X that officers could not attend a scheduled meeting until she arrived at its offices. A shorter virtual meeting was held, though Miss X said she could not raise all her concerns.
18. Later that month, a senior manager promised responses by the end of the week. When this did not happen, Miss X submitted a new complaint about poor communication.
19. In October, the Council issued a stage one complaint response. It said senior managers would now take over the case and seek to resolve matters as a priority. Miss X told the Council her complaint was not only about the outstanding matters but also about its poor communication.
20. In November and December, Miss X continued to raise concerns and made a further complaint.
21. In January 2025, the Council apologised for delays, and acknowledged her complaint but closed it, explaining that a senior manager was overseeing the case.
22. In March, after three weeks without a reply to her latest chasers, Miss X complained again about poor communication and lack of progress before bringing her concerns to the Ombudsman.
23. In April and May, the Council issued further complaint responses, it apologised for delays, accepted that matters had taken too long to resolve, and explained it had hoped to bring a swift resolution.
24. In response to my enquiries, the Council confirmed matters remain outstanding, because of staff changes and delays in obtaining information from other parties.

My findings

Poor communication and action

25. From March 2024 onwards, Miss X repeatedly had to chase the Council for updates. While the Council sometimes replied promptly, more often it failed to respond within the timescales it set itself. The Council arranged several meetings, but promised updates were delayed, incomplete, or only provided after further chasing. The Council apologised in January 2025 for delays, but the same problems continued.
26. I find the Council failed to keep Miss X properly informed and did not complete actions within agreed timescales. This was fault which caused Miss X avoidable uncertainty and distress. I acknowledge there were a number of staff changes during the period I have investigated, which contributed to delay. However, it is concerning that some matters remain unresolved even now.

Complaint handling

27. The Council’s complaints process sets a target of 15 working days for stage one responses and 25 working days for stage two. Miss X first said she wanted to complain in May 2024, but the Council did not progress this. This was fault.
28. The Council did respond to her October complaint within its timescale, but Miss X was dissatisfied because it did not address her complaint about poor communication. She chased a response in December. The Council then asked her to make a separate complaint and extended the timescale to respond by 10 working days. It still failed to meet the revised deadline. This was fault. When it did respond, the Council again did not deal with the poor communication issues.
29. Miss X raised her dissatisfaction again and chased a response five times before the Council acknowledged her complaint and promised a reply within 10 working days. The Council then responded 61 working days after her complaint was raised, and 12 working days after its acknowledgement. This was fault. That response still made no comment on poor communication.
30. Further complaint responses were provided in April and May 2025 but again failed to address the communication issues Miss X had consistently raised.
31. At no point did the Council acknowledge or apologise for the impact of its poor communication. This was fault. The Council’s responses failed to address all the points raised in the complaints, contrary to the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code. This was a missed opportunity to put matters right, to improve its communication with Miss X, and to learn from what had gone wrong. These faults caused Miss X avoidable time and trouble having to pursue matters repeatedly.

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Action

32. To remedy the injustice caused by the above faults, within four weeks of the date of my final decision, the Council had agreed to:
• Apologise to Miss X in line with our guidance on Making an effective apology;
• Pay Miss X £200 to recognise the uncertainty and distress caused by its poor communication and failure to follow through on agreed actions; and
• Pay Miss X £200 to recognise the time and trouble caused by the poor handling of her complaint.
33. Within three months of the date of my decision, the Council has agreed to:
• Using this case as an example, remind relevant officers of the importance of clear, timely communication, providing updates within agreed timescales, and ensuring action and commitments are followed through.
• Remind relevant complaint handling officers to ensure responses address each aspect of a complaint and offer appropriate apologies and remedies where fault is found.
34. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

35. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman