Summary: We cannot investigate Mr B’s complaint that he suffered injuries after slipping on a wet floor in a Council-owned housing block. This is because we cannot investigate complaints about the management of social housing by councils.

The complaint

1. Mr B complains he slipped on a wet floor in the communal area of a Council-owned housing block where he lives. Mr B says the Council did not put in place any signs to alert residents to this wet floor. Mr B says he has suffered physical injuries, damage to his phone, and his pre-existing insomnia has been made worse because of this incident. Mr B also says the Council’s insurers have missed the deadline for a decision on his compensation claim.

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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 complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)
4. The Act 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

5. I considered information provided by Mr B.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr B complains he slipped and suffered injuries because of the Council’s failure to follow safe cleaning practices when it was cleaning the communal areas of the block where he lives. So, Mr B’s complaint is about the Council’s management of the housing block where he lives.
8. We cannot investigate complaints about the management of social housing by a council in its role as a social landlord. This restriction to our powers applies to complaints, like Mr B’s complaint, which are about the maintenance and cleaning of Council-owned housing estates.
9. This means we cannot investigate Mr B’s complaint about the incident or the Council’s handling of his compensation claim.
10. Also, we generally take the view the courts are in the best position to decide personal injury and property damage complaints. This is because only the courts can decide if an organisation has been negligent and so should pay damages.
11. So, even if we had the power to investigate this complaint, we would not start an investigation.

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Final decision

12. We cannot investigate Mr B’s complaint because it is about the management of social housing by the Council as a social landlord.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman