Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council failing to complete repairs to a rented business premises. Further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council failed to complete repairs to a business premises she rents from it. Miss X said the list of repairs remained outstanding for over a decade. She said the Council agreed to replace the windows of he premises in 2023, but this did not take place. She said the property suffers with damp and mould. She said despite chasing, the Council had still not completed the necessary works. She believes the Council is discriminating against her based on her gender.
2. Miss X wants the Council to replace the windows and acknowledge its negligence and discrimination.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. 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:

• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

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

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. In the Council’s complaint response, it said it had agreed to complete repairs to Miss X’s business premises and scheduled these for December 2022. However, the works required scaffolding, and it said Miss X did not agree for the scaffolding to be erected over Christmas. The Council said it revisited the matter with her in July and October 2023, but no dates were agreed for work to start.
9. Miss X said she met with the Council in January 2024 and again in October 2024. Miss X complained to the Council about the lack of progress in December 2024. In the Council’s complaint response, it said given the passage of time, it needed to complete a new survey to identify the repair work required. It said it needed Miss X to agree a date and time so it could progress that survey. The Council did not uphold Miss X’s complaint around discrimination.
10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint the Council has failed to complete repairs to the business premises she rents from it. Firstly, most of her complaint is late. Miss X did not complain to us until December 2024, therefore her complaints about the Council’s actions before December 2023 are late and there is no good reason to exercise discretion and investigate these now. It would have been reasonable for Miss X to complain to us sooner if she was unhappy with the Council’s actions.
11. The Council has said it needs to complete a new survey before completing repairs; it has set out its reasons for this. Although frustrating for Miss X, the Council is entitled to make that decision. Further investigation by the Ombudsman would not lead to a different situation. Miss X needs to confirm with the Council a date to complete the survey, if she has not already.
12. If Miss X believes the Council is in anyway in breach of contract because of the disrepair, that would be a matter for the courts, not the Ombudsman. In addition, we cannot decide if an organisation has breached the Equality Act as this can only be done by the courts. Therefore, we cannot say the Council discriminated against her based on her gender.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because further investigation will not come to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman