Summary: Miss X complained the Council delayed taking action to address the poor condition of the property adjoining her home. We have found the Council took too long to act on some of Miss X’s reports. The Council agreed to apologise to Miss X and make a payment in recognition of the injustice caused to her.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council delayed in taking action to address the poor condition of the property adjoining her home. She stated problems at the property have damaged her home, possessions and caused a vermin infestation. Miss X says this has caused her and her housemate distress, frustration and put them to avoid time and trouble.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. As part of my investigation I have:
• discussed the complaint with Miss X and considered information she provided;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered its response and information it provided;
• had regard to the relevant legislation and guidance;
• considered the Ombudsman’s Guidance on Remedies; and
• set out my initial thoughts on the complaint in a draft decision statement and I considered Miss X’s comments in response.

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What I found

Prevention of Damage by Pests

5. The Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949 requires councils to keep their land and districts free from rats and mice so far as is reasonably practicable.
6. If a council believes steps should be taken for the destruction of rats or mice on any land, to keep the land free from rats and mice then it may serve the landowner or occupier with a notice. The notice will require the landowner or occupier to take reasonable steps, within a reasonable period to take action to rid the land or rats and mice.
7. Anyone receiving such a notice can appeal to court within 21 days. If no appeal is made the council may take action itself to rid the land of rats and mice and take steps to recover any reasonably incurred expenses in doing so.

Statutory nuisance

8. Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA), councils have a duty to take reasonable steps to investigate potential statutory nuisances. A nuisance is defined as something which unreasonably interferes with someone else’s enjoyment of their home or garden.
9. For a Council to consider something a statutory nuisance, it must:
• unreasonably and substantially interfere with use or enjoyment of a home or other premise; and/or
• injure health or be likely to injure health.
10. Under the EPA, a council must take ‘all reasonable steps’ to investigate a complaint about potential statutory nuisances.
11. If a council is satisfied a statutory nuisance is happening, has happened or will happen in the future, it must serve an abatement notice. The Council may delay issuing an abatement notice for a short period, to try to address the problem informally.
12. An abatement notice requires the person or people responsible to stop or limit the activity causing the nuisance. Failure to comply with an abatement notice is an offence, which can lead to prosecution and a fine.

The Housing Act 2004

The Housing Act 2004 introduced the Housing Health and Safety Rating System(HHSRS). This identifies housing defects and classifies them according to the risk posed to the occupier. The Council can serve notice on a housing owner to remedy such defects. The Council also has the power to inspect a property for hazards on giving 24-hours notice. If the Council cannot gain access it can apply to the Magistrates Court for a warrant which may allow it to force entry.

What happened

13. Miss X owns a house which she lives in with a housemate. The neighbouring property is occupied by Q, but they are not the registered owner.
14. On 16 August 2022 Miss X contacted the Council about Q’s home. She explained the property was overgrown with weeds and rubbish was outside.
15. Miss X received an automated acknowledgement of her report saying she would receive a response within 48 working hours. However, Miss X did not receive a reply.
16. Sometime later Miss X received a call from Officer Y. He told Miss X that Q’s home was privately owned and so it was not a matter the Council could help with.
17. Miss X contact the Police and Fire Service about the property. Both visited the property but did not have the authority to enter.
18. In January 2023 Miss X began to experience problems with vermin at her home. She arranged for pest control operatives to visit her home. They said the vermin were coming from Q’s home.
19. In July Miss X contacted the Council again about Q’s home. She said there was sitting water outside the property and the garden was overgrown.
20. In response the Council spoke with Miss X, visited the outside of Q’s home and sought information to determine who owned the property.
21. In August the Council wrote to Q and the registered owner of the property asking them to deal with the water leak.
22. In September the Council visited the outside of Q’s home again and found the water leak had worsened. The Council wrote to Q and the owner and asked them to contact them within seven days.
23. The Council also spoke with the water board who said it would visit the property and repair the water leak but it would need the garden to be cleared for access. The garden was cleared.
24. Also, in September Miss X noticed wooden flooring in her home was lifting and mould was developing. Investigations found water was filling the void beneath the floor and travelling up the party wall. The water was coming from Q’s home. The vermin infestation at Miss X’s home was also ongoing.
25. In October the Council served a Notice of Entry to Q and the owner so it could inspect the property under the HHSRS. It also hand delivered a Requisition for Information Notice. However, Q ignored both and did not allow the Council access to the property.
26. Also, in October the water board visited but found the source of the water leak was inside Q’s home and so it could not help. Q told the Council that an emergency plumber was visiting her home to deal with the leak.
27. In November, following further contact from Miss X, the Council made a referral to its Care and Repair team to see if it could help Q to engage with its efforts to resolve the problems with her home. It also drafted an Environmental Protection Act notice giving Q seven days to stop the statutory nuisance caused by the water leak.
28. Also in November Miss X contacted her local councillor and MP for assistance as problems from Q’s home remained unresolved.
29. Q did not comply with the EPA notice and so the Council served another Notice of Entry. The Council visited Q’s home but were unable to gain access. Meanwhile Q contacted the Care and Repair team and said an emergency plumber was visiting to stop the leak.
30. Later that month the Council obtained a warrant from the Magistrates’ Court so it could gain access to Q’s home. However, before it did so Q contacted the Care and Repair team and asked for help. The team visited and turned off the water supply at Q’s home.
31. Also, in November Miss X told the Council pest control had carried out several visits to her home. She said it was recommended that works to the drain run and manhole be undertaken to prevent vermin from Q’s home entering her home. The water board carried out these works.
32. Throughout November and December, the Council’s Care and Repair team continued to try and engage with Q but were unsuccessful.
33. In December the Council told Q the Magistrates’ Court would hear its request for a warrant to enter her home later that month. In response Q contacted the Care and Repair team to arrange for a clearance contractor to visit. The warrant was issued later that month.
34. Also, in December the Council’s Care and Repair team contacted Social Services to see if they were involved with Q and if they could help. As a result of the referral both the Care and Repair team and Social Services visited Q’s home but could not gain access.
35. In January 2024 the Care and Repair team arranged to visit Q at home. However, Q later cancelled the visit.
36. Later that month the Council’s Care and Repair team and Officer Y visited Q’s home. Its pest control operative also visited to see if there were any entry points for vermin.
37. In February a cleaning contractor visited Q’s home and tided the ground floor. A plumber also visited to repair the water leak and heating at the property.
38. In March pest control visited again and carried out works to a drain at Q’s home which might be an access point for vermin.
39. Also, in March Miss X told the Council she was continuing to have problems with vermin and the likely source remained Q’s home. The Care and Repair team visited her home but did not take any further action despite seeing evidence of the infestation.
40. Miss X recently contacted the Council because Q told her she has a leak in the bathroom, and this has caused a hole in her kitchen ceiling. She says the Care and Repair team told her it would not be carrying out any further repairs to Q’ s home as their attempts to engage with her were unsuccessful.

Miss X’s complaints

41. Miss X complained about the Council’s handling of her reports of problems from Q’s home in November 2023. In its reply is said that it had taken timely action in response to Miss X’s report made in July 2023. It said the case was difficult because it had been unable to contact the owner of the property and Q did not want to engage.
42. Unhappy with the Council’s reply Miss X escalated her complaint. She said she first raised concerns about Q’s home in August 2022. She also explained that her home had been damaged because of the water leak at Q’s home and that her problems with vermin were continuing.
43. The Council’s reply apologised for not acting on Miss X’s report of August 2022 and said it has improved its reporting processes. It also said any damage to Miss X’s home was a civil matter. It said the issue of vermin at Q’s home came to its attention after its Care and Repair team visited the property in December 2023.
44. It re-iterated that it had acted on Miss X’s report of July 2023, and it had taken action to address matters but this was difficult because Q would not engage. It said it was continuing to work to resolve the issues from Q’s home.
45. Miss X remained unhappy and complained to the Ombudsman. She explained that she was still having problems with vermin and that she had incurred costs repairing damage to her home. She also said her insurance premium had increased and that she could not get cover for water damage.
46. We made enquiries of the Council. In its response to us it said:
• It did not contact its Care and Repair Team about Q until after the water board confirmed the water leak at her home was internal. It made the referral because Q had failed to reply to the Council’s contacts.
• It said its decision to wait for the water board to address the water leak at Q’s home was, in hindsight, a misapprehension as the leak was found to be internal.
• It contacted Social Services in December 2023 following Q’s contact with the Care and Repair team, after which it became aware that Q may be vulnerable. Social Services have been unable to make contact with Q since the referral.
• The Police visited Q’s home prior to the referral to Social Services and concluded that Q was not at risk. The Council has not received any direct referrals from the Police or Fire Service about Q. It also said the Police asked Social Services if they or the Council has any information or concerns about Q. Social Services asked the Council and it told them about the Care and Repair team’s involvement.
• The Council has tried to trace the whereabouts of the owner of Q’s home via Land Registry searches but these were unsuccessful. It has tried to obtain information from other sources but was also unsuccessful. It served a Request for Information on Q but there has been no reply despite reminders being sent. It said that as Q has paid for all repair works to date the need to establish the whereabouts of the owner is not necessary as it does not need to get permission or payment for works.
• The Council has carried out all requested pest control works at Q’s home. It is not aware there is a current infestation at her home.
• The water leaks at Q’s home have been resolved.
• It has made changes to ensure that referrals about private sector housing disrepair are allocated to the correct team. It has undertaken staff training, introduced a new case management system and reviewed and updated its complaints policy.
• It said Miss X has sent it lots of emails and that many did go without a written answer. However, it said many of her queries were dealt with over the phone.

Finding

47. The Council did not act on Miss X’s report of August 2022. This is fault. The Council has explained the action it has taken to prevent a recurrence of this fault and so it is not necessary for me to recommend a service improvement.
48. Miss X’s report in August 2022 did not raise concerns about either water leaks or vermin and so the Council’s failure to act on her report did not mean concerns of this nature went ignored.
49. However, an opportunity to engage with Q before conditions as her home deteriorated was missed. I note that Q has been very difficult to engage with and so it is likely that any attempts at this time would, on the balance of probabilities, not have succeeded. Nevertheless, the Council’s failure to do so has caused Miss X uncertainty about whether action by the Council at this point could have prevented conditions deteriorating.
50. The Council accepts that it could have investigated the water leak more thoroughly following Miss X’s report in July 2023. I agree. The Council appears to have accepted the water board would investigate first rather that undertaking its own investigation to determine if the water leak was external or internal. If the Council investigated more thoroughly then the source of the leak would have been known earlier and action to gain entry to Q’s home commenced sooner. The delay here has caused Miss X an injustice as she had to wait for the Council to act for longer than would otherwise have been the case.
51. There is no evidence of delay by the Council in addressing the water leak at Q’s home following the visit by the water board in October 2023. While I appreciate it has taken longer than Miss X would have liked the Council has continued to pursue a resolution exploring both informal and formal approaches to doing so.
52. In its stage two complaint response to Miss X the Council says it was unaware of the vermin issue at Q’s home until its Care and Repair team visited in December 2023. I do not agree. Miss X had informed the Council about the vermin problem at her home since July 2023 including providing pictures showing evidence of vermin at Q’s home. It was also aware that its pest control contractor had visited Miss X’s home on multiple occasions, but it did not follow this up to see if the visits indicated the source of the problem was Q’s home. It should have done so.
53. Miss X has questioned why the Council did not making a referral to its Care and Repair team sooner. I consider the Council made a timely referral to its Care and Repair team once it was established that Q was not engaging. I also consider the Care and Repair team made a timely referral to Social Services once the condition of Q’s home was established following its visit inside the property.
54. The Council accepts that it has not replied to all of Miss X’s emails about the problems at Q’s home. It says it has on some occasions dealt with her concerns in telephone calls but no records of these have been provided. The Council should have communicated with Miss X about these matters. Failure to do so has caused her frustration and put her to the additional time and trouble of following up her emails.
55. Miss X’s home has been damaged because of the water leak. The costs associated with the damage are a civil matter which she must pursue through the courts and her insurer. I note the Council has helped Miss X obtain information to send to her insurer to assist with this matter.

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Agreed action

56. Within one month of my final decision the Council should:
• write to Miss X apologising. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance in making the apology.
• pay Miss X £500 to acknowledge the distress and uncertainty caused to her by the identified delays.
• Pay Miss X £100 in recognition of the frustration and avoidable time and trouble caused to her by the Council’s delays and failure to reply to her communications.
• write to Miss X explaining what action it will take about her ongoing concerns of vermin coming from Q’s home and an internal water leak in her bathroom.
57. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

58. I have completed my investigation with a finding of fault causing injustice.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman