The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the inspection of a private rental property. The complainant has appealed against an improvement notice which followed the inspection and we have no discretion to investigate.
The complaint
Mrs X says: The Council’s employee who was inspecting her rental property was unprofessional and inconsistent in his behaviour.
She asked for a different officer on more than one occasion, but the Council refused and made matters with her tenant worse.
The Council officer started formal action despite promising he would not do so.
Mrs X says she wants the Council to stop tribunal action and to cover her costs.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended) The courts have said we can decide not to investigate a complaint about any action by a council concerning a matter which is outside our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin)) The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A (6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council inspected a property owned by Mrs X and served an improvement notice. Both the Council and Mrs X have told us MRs X has already appealed to a tribunal about the notice. We cannot therefore investigate a complaint about it, or what led to it.
We cannot stop the tribunal proceedings Mrs X started, or help Mrs X recover any costs related to these proceedings.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X ’s complaint because she has used her right of appeal to a tribunal and we will not investigate the Council’s actions which led to enforcement action.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman