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Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (202343326)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202343326

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council

1 October 2025

 

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 its resident’s request to retrieve personal belongings from her late sister’s 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. The resident holds a tenancy with the landlord for a property not related to this complaint. She has medical vulnerabilities and receives additional support from social workers and support workers.
  2. The resident’s sister had held a tenancy for the property, related to this complaint, with the landlord when she died in March 2023. The resident is her sister’s next of kin. Therefore, with the help of her support worker, on 17 July 2023, she gave notice to end her sister’s tenancy. The resident’s sister had been the sole occupier of the property.
  3. Ordinarily, a tenancy notice period is 4 weeks. However, because of the resident’s personal circumstances the landlord extended this to 10 weeks, until 17 September 2023. This was to give the resident additional time to retrieve personal belongings from her sister’s property. The resident’s personal belongings included a mobility scooter.
  4. On 27 September 2023 the landlord served a Section 41 Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 notice. This notice was placed on the front door of the sister’s property and sent to the resident’s address also. This notice said that the property had to be cleared by noon on 30 October 2023, as after that date, any items left inside or outside the property became the property of the landlord and would be disposed of.
  5. On 6 October 2023 the resident signed a disclaimer which stated that all remaining belongings at the property could be disposed of.
  6. Up until 7 November 2023, the landlord gave the resident further opportunities to access the property and recover her personal belongings.
  7. On 16 November 2023 the landlord ordered the property to be cleared.
  8. On 30 January 2024 the resident raised a complaint with the landlord and in summary said she had not been given enough time to collect her personal belongings from her sister’s property. She said she wanted the landlord to replace her mobility scooter.
  9. In its complaint responses the landlord said it had acted in line with its policies and within the remit of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provision) Act 1982. It said it felt it had given ample time and access to the property, and because of this, it did not consider that replacing the resident’s mobility scooter was a proportionate way of resolving her complaint. It said that it sympathised with the resident’s situation and as a gesture of goodwill it had cleared the property with no charge to the resident.
  10. The resident came to the Ombudsman on 18 February 2024 as she said she wanted the landlord to replace her mobility scooter.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 25 of the Scheme states that the following person can make a complaint about a member landlord: “a person who is or has been in a landlord/tenant relationship with a member. This includes people who have a lease, tenancy, licence to occupy, service agreement or other arrangement to occupy premises owned or managed by a member. If the complaint is made by an ex-occupier, they must have had a legal relationship with the member at the time that the matter complained of arose”.
  2. Paragraph 34(a) of the Scheme states that a complaint must “relate to the actions or omissions of a member which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, have affected the complainant in respect of their application for, or occupation of, property”.
  3. Therefore, although the resident may have a relationship with the member landlord, under paragraph 25, this does not extend to the property for which this complaint relates. This is because the resident did not occupy or apply to occupy that property at the time the complaint arose.
  4. We are sorry to hear how difficult this has been for the resident. However, this complaint is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. The resident has the option to seek legal advice on these matters.