London Borough of Haringey (22 010 999)
Category : Housing > Managing council tenancies
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 16 Feb 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to complete repairs to a broken garden fence. This is because we are prevented by law from considering complaints about councils’ actions as landlords of their social housing properties.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I shall call Ms B, complained that the Council had failed to replace fence panels in her back garden which were damaged during bad weather in early 2022.
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 Ms B provided with her complaint. I also took account of the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We cannot pursue Ms B’s complaint as we do not have power to investigate complaints about councils when they are carrying out their functions as landlords of their housing properties. The Housing Ombudsman Service is now responsible for dealing with most complaints about the management of council housing.
- Ms B’s complaint relates to a fence on one side of her back garden which borders the communal garden of a block of Council owned properties. The upkeep of the fence is the responsibility of the Council’s housing management service. Therefore Ms B’s complaint is about the Council’s actions as a landlord and, as a result, the legal restriction on us investigating issues about how councils manage their social housing applies in her case.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Ms B's complaint about the Council’s failure to complete repairs to the fence between her back garden and the communal garden of a block of its flats. This is because the law precludes us from pursuing complaints about councils when they are acting in their role as social housing landlords.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman