Bury Metropolitan Borough Council (24 019 105)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about alleged delay by the Council in repairing a window at its property as we cannot investigate the Council when it is acting as a social housing provider.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about a window at a Council property in his street which he says has been left unrepaired for two months. Mr X is upset by this as he feels it shows the Council has no regard for his street. Mr X is also unhappy that the Council would not investigate his complaint about this as he is not the tenant.
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)
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We cannot investigate the Council's actions in relation to the window repair as this matter is not within our legal remit, as per paragraph three.
- I appreciate Mr X is also unhappy about the Council's response to his complaint but as we cannot investigate the substantive matter, we will not investigate this ancillary matter as it would not be a good use of our limited resources.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is not within our legal remit.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman