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Wandsworth Council (202017417)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202017417

Wandsworth Council

15 June 2021


Our approach

What we can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and is governed by the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. The Ombudsman must determine whether a complaint comes within their jurisdiction. The Ombudsman seeks to resolve disputes wherever possible but cannot investigate complaints that fall outside of this. 

In deciding whether a complaint falls within their jurisdiction, the Ombudsman will carefully consider all the evidence provided by the parties and the circumstances of the case.

The complaint

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of repairs to the communal lift at the property.

Determination (jurisdictional decision)

  1. When a complaint is brought to the Ombudsman, we must consider all the circumstances of the case as there are sometimes reasons why a complaint will not be investigated.
  2. After carefully considering all the evidence, I have determined that the complaint, as set out above, is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Summary of events

  1. On 25 March 2021, the resident’s complaint was referred to this service by an MP. The referral included a copy of the landlord’s final response to the residents complaint dated 18 February 2021. In brief, the final response from the landlord acknowledged that there had been reports of lift breakdowns but found no failure of duty of care. It referred the resident to this service should they be dissatisfied with the response.
  2. In the MP’s cover letter, they explained that the resident was unhappy with the landlord’s final response and was requesting an investigation by this service.
  3. On 26 April, our service contacted the resident to advise that we would be requesting information from his landlord for the purposes of an investigation.
  4. On 27 April, the landlord informed this service that the resident was pursuing his complaint with the county court.
  5. Our service requested evidence of this from the landlord and was subsequently provided with a copy of the claim form which had been issued on 12 March 2021.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 39 (h) of the Scheme states that: The Ombudsman will not investigate complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion: concern matters that are, or have been, the subject of legal proceedings and where a complainant has or had the opportunity to raise the subject matter of the complaint as part of those proceedings;
  2. The landlord has provided this service with evidence that the complaint bought to this service by the resident is subject to legal proceedings. As such, I am satisfied that in accordance with paragraph 39 (h) of the Scheme, the case is being considered by a court and as such falls outside of this services jurisdiction to investigate.