London Borough of Hillingdon (23 007 180)
Category : Housing > Council house sales and leaseholders
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 27 Sep 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We have no power to investigate this complaint about the behaviour of officers when asking the complainant if he had the correct permissions for building works, because it is about the Council’s management of its leasehold properties. And it would not be a good use of our resources to investigate the complaints process in isolation.
The complaint
- Mr X is a leaseholder of a property where the Council owns the freehold. He complains about the behaviour of two council officers when they visited his property to check if he had the necessary permissions for building works.
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 management of housing let on a long lease by a council that is a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5B, schedule 5, as amended)
- The courts have said we can decide not to investigate a complaint about any action by an organisation concerning a matter which the law says we cannot investigate. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council, which included their complaint correspondence.
- I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- I appreciate Mr X questions the reasons why the officers were in the area, and may feel they were rude or unprofessional during their discussion. He also says the Council gave conflicting advice in its subsequent complaint correspondence about whether he had submitted a signed, landlord consent letter and fee.
- But Mr X’s concerns relate to the Council’s management of its leasehold properties. The Ombudsman has no power to investigate such matters, and it would not be a good use of our resources to look at the complaints process in isolation.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is about the management of housing let on a long lease agreement by a council that is a registered social housing provider, and we will not look at the associated complaints process in isolation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman