Bristol City Council has apologised after being rapped by watchdogs for “unreasonable delays” in investigating illegal bedsits. The Local Government Ombudsman upheld a complaint by a resident who was left “frustrated and disappointed” that the local authority took too long to launch enforcement action against many suspected unlawful student digs in his neighbourhood.
A council meeting was told a set of remedies to redress the “injustice” had been agreed with the ombudsman, including beefing up the team that probes alleged breaches of planning regulations for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs). The authority was also told to apologise to the complainant and monitor and review its plan to deal with a backlog of enforcement cases to ensure it is adequately resourced, along with reporting ongoing progress and the ruling to the cross-party growth & regeneration scrutiny commission.
The ombudsman’s report said: “Mr X complained the council was taking too long to investigate complaints about unlawful HMOs in its area. We found fault because there was unreasonable delay in enforcement investigations.
