The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to address internal and external repairs in a private-rented property. There is no statutory or contractual agreement between the Council and Mr X. His private landlord is contractually responsible for carrying out repairs under the assured shorthold tenancy agreement which he holds with it.
The complaint
Mr X complained about the Council’s failure as managing agent to ensure that flooding of his garden and leaks and heating problems within his flat are addressed. He says this has been a problem since 2022 and he continues to have problems with disrepair.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A (6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X says he has suffered from problems with drainage in the garden of his rented flat and various repairs involving leaks and the heating system in his current and in previous shorthold tenancies. His current tenancy started in May 2023 and his landlord is a community trust which lets the flat on an assured shorthold tenancy.
For a period of months, the Council was a managing agent employed by the landlord but in July 2023 the landlord took on direct management of the tenancy. Mr X complained to us about the Council’s failure to address all of his repairs concerns. However, Mr X has had no contractual relationship with the Council and the tenancy agreement confirms that the landlord is directly responsible for repairing the property. If he has remaining repair problems he would need to take this up as a contractual breach with his landlord or to take action under s.11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 for any matters covered by that legislation.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to address internal and external repairs in a private-rented property. There is no statutory or contractual agreement between the Council and Mr X. His private landlord is contractually responsible for carrying out repairs under the assured shorthold tenancy agreement which he holds with it.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman