Broxtowe Borough Council (23 012 274)
Category : Housing > Managing council tenancies
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 12 Nov 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s delay in dealing with disrepair to one of its properties which is causing damage to the privately owned house next door. The law prevents us from considering complaints about how councils manage their social housing properties.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I shall call Mr B, complained about the Council’s delay in completing repairs to broken guttering at one of its tenanted properties. Mr B said this had caused water to overflow and damage his property next door. Mr B was also unhappy about the Council’s failure to respond to his contacts and complaints regarding this matter.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. In particular 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, Schedule 5.5 (as amended)]
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the information Mr B provided with his complaint. I also took account of the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We cannot investigate Mr B’s complaint as we no longer have powers to consider complaints about councils’ actions as landlords of their social housing properties. This follows a change in the law in 2013 which transferred authority for dealing with most complaints about council housing management to the Housing Ombudsman Service.
- Mr B’s complaint concerns the Council’s delay in carrying out its repairing responsibilities as a landlord and its housing management service’s poor communications about this matter. Therefore, as Mr B’s complaints are about the Council actions as a landlord, the legal restriction on us which I refer to in paragraph 2 applies in his case.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mr B's complaint about the Council’s delay in completing repairs to one of its housing properties which is causing damage to the next-door house he owns. The law precludes us from dealing with complaints about councils when they are acting as social housing landlords.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman