Ms A complained about damp and mould at her property which she rents from Flintshire County Council. She said that despite complaining to the Council in November 2023 it had refused to escalate her complaint made in January 2024 to Stage 2 of the complaint’s procedure but had logged it as a new Stage 1 complaint.
The Ombudsman decided that the Council had failed to respond to the complaint that Ms A made to it in November 2023 formally, and so had treated her more recent complaint under Stage 1 of the complaint’s procedure. The Ombudsman decided to settle the complaint without an investigation.
The Ombudsman sought and gained the Council’s agreement to contact Ms A within 10 working days to confirm whether she still wanted to escalate her complaint to Stage 2 of the complaint’s procedure and if so, to agree the scope of the complaint. Within a further 10days provide a response to the Stage 2 complaint and apologise that the previous complaint was not responded to formally.