The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s use of a property to meet its housing duties. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council: Uses a neighbouring property as emergency accommodation for homeless people; Has not taken proper action against its tenants for their unreasonable behaviour; Told him wrong information about its tenancy conditions; Delayed providing him with contact information; and Handled his complaint poorly.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council rents out a property in the building Mr X lives in. Mr X complains it is not a suitable property to be used for emergency accommodation. The Council told Mr X about its duty to house people who meet the test for homelessness and therefore uses all suitable properties available. I have seen information about the assessment process for properties to be considered suitable for use by the Council. There is no evidence of fault in the Council’s decision making and therefore we cannot question the outcome.
The Council says it had not received any reports of anti-social behaviour. It will now consider the anti-social behaviour reported in Mr X’s complaint. There is not enough evidence of fault to investigate.
The Council explained to Mr X that its tenants are housed by a different provider and so their tenancy conditions differ to his contract. There is not enough evidence of fault to consider this matter further.
The Council’s contact information is available on its website. There is not enough evidence of fault to investigate this matter further.
It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaints procedures if we are not investigating the substantive issues.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman