The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mr X’s claim for compensation from the Council for damage caused to his property by tenants. This is because the complaint is a late complaint and because Mr X can take his claim against the Council to court.
The complaint
The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, seeks compensation from the Council for damage caused to his property by tenants for whom the Council gave a misleading and inaccurate reference.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended) 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 has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended) The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about freedom of information. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So where we receive complaints about freedom of information, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In 2017 Mr X rented his property out to two tenants for whom a Council officer gave a supporting reference. The tenants left the property in 2020 having caused extensive damage.
Mr X sought compensation from the Council for the damage caused by the tenants saying that, but for the reference, he would not have accepted them as tenants. The Council advised Mr X to make an insurance claim to its Legal Department.
The restrictions highlighted at paragraphs 3 and 4 apply to Mr X’s complaint. If he believes Council negligence resulted in the losses he claims, it is open to him to make an insurance claim. If this is unsuccessful, he can take the Council to court. As he has this alternative remedy available which we would reasonably expect him to use, the complaint falls outside our jurisdiction and will not be pursued.
Moreover, the complaint is a late complaint because Mr X would have known of the damage caused by the tenants by 2020 at the latest and we would reasonably have expected him to have made a complaint sooner.
While Mr X has also raised Council complaint handling issues, we will not investigate these when we are not investigating the substantive issue.
Matters Mr X has raised involving FOI requests can be referred to the Information Commissioner whose office is best placed to deal with them.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the complaint is a late complaint and because Mr X can take his claim against the Council to court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman