The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s response to a leak from a Council-owned property. This is because we cannot investigate complaints about the management of social housing by a council acting as a social landlord.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the Council’s failure to fix water leak from a nearby Council owned and managed property.
Mr X says there is a public safety risk, and he has been caused significant time and trouble trying to resolve this. He wants the leak fixed and compensation.
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 complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council’s response.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X owns his property. The adjoining property is owned and managed by the Council and both properties share a path.
The Council features in this complaint as the social landlord of the adjoining property. So, Mr X’s complaint is about the Council’s management of the adjoining property in its role as a social landlord. We cannot investigate complaints about the management of social housing by councils.
This restriction to our powers applies to complaints about the handling of repairs at Council-owned properties.
This restriction also applies even if, as with this complaint, the person who has complained is not a Council tenant.
This means we cannot investigate the issue Mr X complains about and have no discretion to start an investigation.
Final decision
We cannot investigate this complaint because it is about the management of social housing by the Council as a social landlord.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman