To be angry /complain with council?

[pinkorgolf]

My grandma is 80 and for 40 years has lived happily in her council house with no hassle from housing officer.
My grandma has dementia (forgets certain things ) but is safe to live here still (had social services Assesment )
This particular housing officer seems to be nothing but a nuisance.
My grandma doesn't like strangers and gets upset /agitated.
7 weeks ago my grandma had a small flood as she didn't turn the tap off properly.
The housing officer called me into her office and said she thought a care home would be the best option.
I said for the moment she's fine here.
She then said on Monday (yesterday ) a man will be coming to the property to do a peeps Assesment (fire procedure )
This is where her lies start
Knock on the door
No man ,but her,with social services and police.
She had rang them saying she had concerns.
(This was the second time she rang them,last year they came out and said my grandma was fine here and could see she was well looked after )
She had said in a year she had never been in property (I said my grandma has never once had a housing officer looking around )
So basically she lied about a peeps Assesment to get in then called social services.
Once again SS left satisfied and said they could see she was fine.
It's not even the face SS came out,I even said to the social worker I'm more than happy to have you visit to check on her etc
For her to do that I found sneaky and underhanded
I've never been anything but nice to this housing officer and have a lot on my shoulders
I didn't need this

*fact not face

I’d speak to the council. The actions do sound underhand. There are straightforward and transparent ways to get assessments done if required. No need for any skullduggery.

sorry to hear that she is behaving so badly. If your grandma is settled and safe, its not appropriate. Make sure you record it all.

That's two times she's done this.
Two time's social services have said she's fine to remain in the property.
For her to lie to gain access makes me really angry.

She trying to free up the property by stealth I would imagine.

It sounds very dishonest.
I would report her and I have a high bar when it comes to telling.

Underhand and a blatant trick.
Is she underoccupying?

She's in a two bed and it's just her since my grandad passed away.

Complain, definitely.
I had a housing officer do this to me years ago, kept turning up saying complaints had been made, even had my door kicked off saying a neighbour had reported I hadn't been seen for a fortnight. Turned out she was after my flat for her daughter, I made an ombudsman complaint and they uncovered complaints had been made but from a relative of hers 5 streets away.
Eventually, she allowed workmen into my property whilst I was away for a weekend, alleging a gas leak. They/she left all the windows open so I was burgled. Neither party took responsibility for it, luckily back then I didn't have a lot so they nicked a vacuum and my CDs. I gave the flat back after that and began the complaint, moved in with DP. She was sacked for gross misconduct.

Problem is, if your grandmother caused a fire as a result of her memory issues , it wouldn't be so farfetched that the Council would be deemed responsible for not doing a proper assessment. The fact she left the tap run could be an indication of her not being safe.

They are damned if they do damned if they don't.

*Problem is, if your grandmother caused a fire as a result of her memory issues , it wouldn't be so farfetched that the Council would be deemed responsible for not doing a proper assessment. The fact she left the tap run could be an indication of her not being safe.

They are damned if they do damned if they don't.*

Totally agree - but if this was why they called SS then they should have said so. Instead they lied to gain access to the property which makes it feel very underhanded and like they have an ulterior motive.

The housing officer needs to live in the real world , there is a massive shortage of council funded care home placements even for people much worse than your nan . They were like this with my MIL when we actually wanted a care home place . Dementia is such a cruel illness and the stress for relatives is immense .

My gran only has a microwave not a cooker.
Also after last year social services did a Assesment and it was ok for her to remain in property.
I just wish she had told the truth
It's very sneaky

Is it a council flat or a housing association flat?
The housing officer may be being over zealous, or have a bad motivation, but equally she may be genuinely concerned about your grandmother and the potential risk she poses to herself, her neighbours and the property.
In my experience, social services are frequently very happy to leave vulnerable (often elderly) persons in unsuitable accommodation even when all the evidence suggests a care home placement/supported accommodation would be appropriate. That may be a consequence of the scarcity of alternative accommodation but just because social services say she's fine, doesn't mean she is or that the landlord is happy.
That isn't to say you are wrong when you say shes fine but with a progressive illness like dementia, it pays to be aware of the risks.
There is nothing sneaky about ensuring safeguarding duties are met year on year.

@Boomboomboomboom the sneaky behaviour I'm talking about is saying someone from the council wanted to come into property to do a "fire safety check"
There was no safety check and she showed up with social services.
If she had been straight forward and told me this then that's a different matter.

Would anyone complain ?
Or just leave it?

I would definitely complain and I would also do a Freedom of Information request or a Subject Access Request - if your grandma is deemed to have capacity - to find out why the Housing Officer lied, when all she had to do is be truthful if she has safeguarding concerns. She isn't behaving in a professional or purposeful manner. Whilst safeguarding is everyone's concern, she isn't following proper procedures and guidelines by being economical with the truth.

Then when she got into today.
She said I'm going to go around and look in every room.
Can she do this?

*Monday not today

At least 24hrs notification has to be given of a visit. The notification has to state the nature of the visit along with the names of who ever is in attendance.
Your grandmother can insist that any community is made via letter,this is all part of the Tenant &Landlord Act.

Here's a link to the relevant section

www.thetenantsvoice.co.uk/advice_from_us/landlord-access/

No - she can’t just look around.

The look in every room thing makes me wonder if she thinks your gran is sub letting a room out?

She has been trying to get my gran in a home for the last year.

Complain!! This is harassment, gaining entry through false claims and no, she can’t bloody well look round your gran’s home.

I would complain.
It sounds like she's on a mission to get some of the under occupied homes vacant.
If she had concerns as he should have been transparent.
I would explain the outright lies in the complaints, Lack of peep and unnotifued inspection. I'd also add that its now feeling like harassment.

Make a complaint - she could be doing this to other vulnerable people who don’t have relatives to fight their corner. Ask social services to notify you if she requests another visit and insist on being present. If you do stuff over the phone follow up with an email or put it in writing and request an acknowledgement.

Re the flood, A quick google says you can get alarms that will detect overflowing sinks and baths so that might be worth looking at.