The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council serving an improvement notice on the landlord of private rented property. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner. It was reasonable for Miss X to challenge the notice by appealing to the First Tier Tribunal which is the body responsible for deciding challenges to housing notices.
The complaint
Miss X complained about the Council serving an improvement notice on her in December 2022. She says the Council acted unreasonably and were not prepared to listen to her defence against claims by a tenant whom she says was problematic and uncooperative with her landlord’s requests.
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 has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended) The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended) The First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) is the body which deals with appeals against housing notices.
How I considered this complaint
I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council’s response.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Miss X says the Council served an Improvement Notice on her as a private landlord in December 2022. She says it did this without properly considering the evidence or giving her an opportunity to address the disrepairs claimed by the tenant. She says the tenant was problematic and that some of the claimed disrepair was deliberately caused.
We will not investigate this complaint which was made outside the 12-month period for receiving complaints. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wish to complain about, not when they complained to the Council or it issued its final response. We would expect someone to complain to us within a year, even if they were dissatisfied with the time the complaints procedure was taking.
We have some discretion not consider older complaint in certain circumstances. That would not apply in this case because it was reasonable for Miss X as a private landlord to challenge the notice by appealing to the First Tier Tribunal.
Final decision
We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council serving an improvement notice on the landlord of private rented property. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner. It was reasonable for Miss X to challenge the notice by appealing to the First Tier Tribunal which is the body responsible for deciding challenges to housing notices.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman