The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Mr X says the Council delayed in repairing the roof of the garage he rented from it. He also says the Council delayed in responding to his claim for compensation for the loss of use of the garage and to his complaint. Mr X says this caused him inconvenience, frustration and financial losses. We have found fault in the actions of the Council for delaying the repair and its response to Mr X’s compensation claim and complaint. We recommend the Council apologises to Mr X and pays him a financial remedy.
The complaint
Mr X says the Council delayed in repairing the roof of the garage he rented from it. He also says the Council delayed in responding to his claim for compensation for the loss of use of the garage and to his complaint.
Mr X says this caused him inconvenience, frustration and financial losses.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended) 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(i), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I have read the information Mr X provided and have spoken to him on the phone about his complaint.
I have also read the information provided by the Council.
Both Mr X and the Council were invited to comment on my draft decision. Any comments received were reviewed before a final decision was issued.
What I found
The Garage Tenancy Agreement lists the responsibilities of the Council and the tenant. Under the Council’s responsibilities the agreement states the Council will repair the roof, gutters, down pipes etc. It also says the Council will give a maximum time tenants will have to wait before it completes a repair.
The Conditions of Tenancy document says the Council may deduct any money a tenant owes to it from any money it owes to the tenant.
What happened Mr X contacted the Council in June 2023 to tell it the garage needed repair. The Council passed the report to a contractor in late July 2023 who arranged to attend in early August.
The contractor could not locate the garage and then cancelled the job but reattended in mid-August 2023. The contractor said further investigations needed to take place to find out whether the garage contained asbestos.
Mr X complained to the Council in September 2023 as it had not completed the repair and he had not received any information about when it would be likely. Mr X said he could not use the garage due to the Council not completing the repair.
The Council called Mr X in late September 2023 to tell him to put in a compensation claim for the rent he had paid while not being able to use the garage.
The Council responded to Mr X’s complaint in October 2023 and said it found the contractor at fault for failing to complete the repair to the garage. The response said the repair was booked for early November 2023.
Mr X told the Council three days later he had put in a compensation claim for the loss of use of the garage two weeks previously. He chased the Council for a response to the compensation claim in early November and told the Council the repair had not been done. Mr X also asked for his complaint to be escalated to stage two.
The contractor completed the repair in mid-November 2023.
The Council issued a stage two response to Mr X’s complaint in late November 2023. It upheld his complaint about the delay to the repair of the garage and said the compensation team would respond to him about his compensation claim. The response also directed Mr X to the Housing Ombudsman if he remained unhappy.
Mr X chased the Council between late November 2023 and early January 2024 to try to get a response from the compensation team.
The Council’s compensation team wrote to Mr X in mid-January 2024 to agree to cover 13 weeks of the rent of the garage where Mr X said the garage was unusable. The Council took this amount (£177.58) off the rent arrears (£188.97) Mr X owed as he had not been paying the rent.
Mr X did not agree with the compensation offered and raised a further complaint in late January 2024. The Council responded to the complaint in mid-February, but Mr X remained unhappy with the response and escalated the complaint to stage two.
The Council issued a stage two response at the end of February 2024 and signposted to both the Housing Ombudsman and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Analysis The Garage Tenancy Agreement says the Council are responsible for repairs to the roof of the garage. Mr X reported the issue with the garage roof in June 2023. The Council did not complete the repair until November 2023.
The Council did not give Mr X an idea of how long the repair would take as outlined in the Agreement or keep him up to date with what was happening with the repair. This is fault and has caused Mr X distress and inconvenience.
Mr X raised a compensation claim as directed by the Council in September 2023 and did not receive a response to this until January 2024. The Council told Mr X responses to compensation claims were usually issued within 15 working days. However, at that point 15 working days had already passed, and the Council did not give Mr X an idea when he would get a response. This is fault and has caused Mr X distress and inconvenience.
The Council agreed to cover the cost of the rent for a 13-week period when the garage was unusable. It has deducted this from the arrears owed by Mr X which were caused by him stopping paying the rent to try to gain a response from the Council. This was in accordance with the Conditions of Tenancy.
While this covers the financial loss Mr X suffered, it does not take into account the distress, frustration and inconvenience he has suffered trying to get the repair completed and in having to chase the compensation claim.
The Council responded to Mr X’s first complaint outside the 15 working day response timescale published in its complaints policy for stage one complaints. This is fault and would have caused Mr X frustration. The Council responded to the stage two complaint and further complaint raised by Mr X within the published timescales. However, the complaint response at stage two gave unclear information about who Mr X could raise a further complaint with. This again would have caused Mr X frustration.
Agreed action
Within one month of a final decision, the Council should: Write to Mr X to apologise for the faults identified.
Pay Mr X £150 to recognise the distress, frustration and inconvenience caused to him for the delayed repair and responses.
The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.
Final decision
I have found fault in the actions of the Council in delaying the repair of the garage and its responses to Mr X’s compensation claim and complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman