Mr X complained that 10 months following initial contact with the Council, it issued a notice under the Public Health Act 1936 (“the Act”) directly to him when it should have been issued directly to his tenant. Mr X was advised that he had no right of appeal.
The Ombudsman found that the Council took a signicant of time to issue the notice leaving Mr X in a position where he did not know what action was available to him. She was also concerned that the complaint response was confusing and did not adequately set out the Council’s legislative right in relation to issuing a notice on the landlord under the Act.
The Ombudsman contacted the Council and it agreed to undertake the following action by no later than 24 October 2022: –
1. Offer its apology for the significant delay in communicating with Mr X.
2. Offer Mr X a time & trouble payment of £100 for the delay and the confusion caused to him.
3. Allocate a Legal Officer to set out the legislative position to Mr X to remove any confusion.