London Borough of Lambeth (21 016 625)
Category : Housing > Managing council tenancies
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 03 Mar 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the actions of a Council officer in relation to the redevelopment of a Council housing estate. This is because we cannot investigate complaints about the management of social housing by councils.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I will refer to as Mrs B, is a resident of a Council estate which the Council plans to re-build. Mrs B complains about the actions of the Council Liveability officer for the estate whose role is to support residents during this process. Mrs B complains that the officer has spread misinformation about whether residents of the estate were balloted about the demolition of the estate. Mrs B also says the officer is not supporting the well-being of residents.
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 provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mrs B.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mrs B’s complaint is about the Council’s management of the estate where she lives. We cannot investigate complaints about the management of social housing by councils acting as a social landlord. This restriction applies to both complaints about the Council’s actions as an organisation and complaints about the conduct of individual officers who perform a housing management role on behalf of the Council. This means we have no discretion to investigate Mrs B’s complaint.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mrs B’s complaint because it is about the management of social housing by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman