The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with reports of mould at a privately rented property in 2019. This is because these events happened too long ago, and I see no reason why the complaint could not have been raised sooner. We will not investigate how the Council dealt with requests for information because this is a matter better dealt with by the Information Commissioner.
The complaint
The complainant, who I will call Mrs X complains about how the Council dealt with her reports of mould in her privately rented accommodation in 2019. She also complains about how the Council dealt with her requests for information and about how it dealt with her complaints about these matters.
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 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) We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with her reports of mould in her property in 2019, this is because these events happened too long ago and I see no reason why she could not have complained to us sooner. Mrs X did ask us to investigate this in 2021, but we told her that she would first need to complaint to the Council, and she should come back to us if it did not respond within 12 weeks. Mrs X did not come back to us until some fifteen months later.
I will not investigate how the Council responded to Mrs X’s Subject Access Request. This is because it is reasonable for her to raise this with the Information Commissioner who is best placed to investigate such complaints.
Finally, I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with her complaints about these matters .This is because it is not a good use of public funds to investigate complaint handling when we are not investigating the substantive elements of a complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is made late and she can raise how the Council dealt with her Subject Access Requests to the Information Commissioner.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman