London Borough of Lambeth (24 016 667)
Category : Housing > Homelessness
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 23 Jan 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the suitability of accommodation provided by the Council, and its handling of her compensation claim. Miss X’s complaint is late and there are no good reasons to investigate it now.
The complaint
- Mrs X complains the Council provided unsuitable temporary accommodation from the time it first housed her.
- Mrs X complains about the Council’s handling of her claim for compensation due to losing her belongings to fire damage in April 2023.
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 late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
- The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss X complained to us in December 2024. Evidence shows the Council updated Miss X about her request for a suitability review in June 2023.
- I will not investigate any complaints about this review request or any historical requests because Miss X’s complaint is late. There are no good reasons why she could not have come to us within 12 months of becoming aware of the issues.
- Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her compensation claim is also late with no good reason to disapply the time limit. Further, the courts are better placed to deal with claims for loss of property. And it is reasonable to expect Miss X to pursue any claim in court.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is late.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman