The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about how the Council’s continues to place her family in unsuitable temporary accommodation. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify investigating.
The complaint
Miss X complains the Council placed her family in an unsafe accommodation in need of significant repair. She says it has done so repeatedly for a decade. She complains her current accommodation has been noted to have an unsafe boiler.
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 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) 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/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended) The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the council knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the council of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5)).
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Miss X says the Council has placed her family in numerous unsafe accommodation over a decade. I will not investigate matters that arose before October 2023. This part of her complaint is late and there are no good reasons why Miss X could not have brought her complaints to us at the time the issues arose.
In response to Miss X’s reports of disrepair, the Council carried out an inspection to identify major repair concerns. It made recommendations outlining the work required and said it will continue to monitor the progress of the repairs. It said while the property required some repair works, it was not unfit for human habitation in its present condition. I appreciate Miss X remains unhappy, but there is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council responded to her concerns to justify an investigation.
Miss X’s complaint about the faulty boiler in her new accommodation is premature. It is reasonable for her to complain to the Council first to give it the opportunity to investigate and reply.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman