The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint the Council failed to act after he reported hazards at a House of Multiple Occupation. That is because his complaint is late.
The complaint
Mr X complained the Council failed to take action after he reported hazards at a House of Multiple Occupation (HMO) he lived in. He said the property was overcrowded and unsafe.
Mr X is also unhappy about the Council’s contact with him. He said its behaviour is unjustified. He wants the Council to sack a council officer.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended) The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In response to my enquiries, the Council confirmed that Mr X lived in the HMO in 2019. Therefore, his complaint about the conditions of that property is late and we will not investigate. It was reasonable for Mr X to of complained to us sooner if he thought the Council had not responded to his concerns appropriately.
The Council has had restricted contact in place with Mr X since April 2020. It allocated him a Council Officer to communicate directly with. The Council reviewed that decision in May 2021 and decided to keep the restricted contact arrangements in place.
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council has managed his contact with him further. Firstly, he has a named point of contact at the Council therefore any restrictions imposed have not caused him a significant injustice. Secondly, there is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council decided to restrict his contact to justify our investigation. Finally, Mr X wants the Council to sack the Council Officer. This is not an outcome the Ombudsman could achieve therefore further investigation would not be worthwhile.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman