El Diputado del Común Asiste a la entrega de los Premios al Valor Social 2015 en Canarias

Date of article: 19/01/2016

Daily News of: 20/01/2016

Country:  Spain - Canary Islands

Author: Regional Ombudsman of the Canary Islands

Article language: es

D. Jerónimo Saavedra asistió como presidente del Jurado en cual también integraba a la directora general de Políticas Sociales del Gobierno canario, Carmen María Acosta; la Consejera de Acción Social del Cabildo tinerfeño, Cristina Valido; el concejal de Asuntos Sociales del Ayuntamiento de Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Óscar García; la responsable del Programa Tenerife Solidario, Beatriz Sicilia; y ...

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Zufahrtsrecht zum Grundstück in Gefahr?

Date of article: 16/01/2016

Daily News of: 19/01/2016

Country:  Austria

Author: Austrian Ombudsman Board

Article language: de

Ein Hausbesitzer in der Gemeinde Podersdorf am See ist verunsichert: Das seit 1958 vertraglich verbriefte Zufahrtsrecht zu seinem Haus, aber auch der Zugang zum See über Gemeindegrund ist seit einer Grundstücksteilung durch die Gemeinde nicht mehr im Grundbuch eingetragen. Der Betroffene hat mehrfach die Behebung dieses Fehlers urgiert – bis dato ohne Erfolg.

Fest steht, dass der Hausbesitzer bereits seit 1958 ein Weg-, Fahrt- und Leistungsrecht über ein Grundstück der Gemeinde hat. Seeseitig wurde sogar ein ausschließliches Nutzungsrecht mit Vertrag eingeräumt. Das alles war bis 1986 auch ordnungsgemäß im Grundbuch eingetragen. Als in diesem Jahr allerdings auf Veranlassung der Gemeinde Grundstücksnummern geändert wurden, hat die Behörde offenbar auf die entsprechende Übertragung in das Grundbuch vergessen. Mündliche, aber auch schriftliche Zusagen des Bürgermeisters, diesen Fehler zu beheben, wurden bis dato nicht eingehalten. Es kam noch schlimmer: Mittlerweile hat die Gemeinde den Fall einem Anwalt übergeben und kündigt an, eine „andere geeignete Zufahrt“ zu schaffen. Für Volksanwältin Brinek eine untragbare Vorgehensweise: „Laut Gesetz hätten Änderungen ohnehin nur für lastenfreie Grundstücke stattfinden dürfen, also was soll jetzt diese Trickserei? Am gültigen Vertrag gibt es nichts zu ‚deuteln‘ und ich erwarte mir, dass die Gemeinde umgehend den Antrag auf Eintragung des Geh- und Fahrtrechtes stellt und somit das ausschließliche Nutzungsrecht für die Hauseigentümer wieder gesichert ist.“

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Councils must offer affordable options when arranging care homes for families

Date of article: 19/01/2016

Daily News of: 19/01/2016

Country:  United Kingdom - England

Author: Local Government Ombudsmen for England

Article language: en

When arranging care, councils must offer families the option of a nursing or care home placement which does not need a top-up fee, the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) has said, following an investigation into Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council.

The investigation involved a Solihull family who paid a top-up fee for three years for their father’s care. The family should not have been asked to pay this additional fee.

The case is another example of people across the country being given insufficient information to be able to make informed choices about their care. This is a problem which the LGO continues to see and which it highlighted in a Focus Report in September 2015.

In the Solihull investigation, a man went into a nursing home temporarily in September 2007.

Before he moved into the home, the council contacted 13 nursing homes on the family’s behalf to check if they had any vacancies. Only one of those homes it spoke to on the list accepted its standard rate. This home did not have a room available for the man at the time.

This meant that the family only had the choice of homes which required a top-up fee. They were unaware the council should not have charged them a top-up if there were no homes available at its standard rate.

When the council decided the man needed to live permanently in a nursing home it again failed to help the family find a home that did not require a top-up.

Three years later the man’s daughter told the council it would be difficult for the family to continue paying the top-up fee, but did not want her father to be moved because she feared it would be detrimental to his health.

The council agreed to consider paying the top-up fee and in the process contacted local nursing homes, one of which did not need a top-up fee and had a room available. Because the family refused to move the man from his home the council decided not to pay the top-up.

The council should have then conducted an assessment of the man’s needs and assessed the risk of moving him to determine whether he could be moved to a more affordable home.
The council now agrees that it was wrong to charge a top-up when the man first moved into the nursing home as no alternative was given to the family that did not require a top-up. It has offered to refund the top-up paid by the family till the placement was made permanent in October 2007. It does not accept it was at fault from that point afterwards.

Dr Jane Martin, Local Government Ombudsman, said:

“When arranging care, councils must offer families an affordable alternative to a placement which requires a top-up fee. If no placements are available in their area that do not require a top-up then councils must fund the top-up themselves.

“In this case, no affordable placement was offered and the family was not made aware that such an alternative should have been available to them.

“I would urge Solihull council to act upon my recommendations and consider the lessons from our focus report.”


The LGO has recommended the council apologises to the daughter and refund the top-up fees she has paid along with £300 for the time and trouble she has gone to in bringing the complaint to the Ombudsman.

The Focus Report is available at www.lgo.org.uk/publications

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Viviendas públicas en régimen de alquiler

Date of article: 19/01/2016

Daily News of: 19/01/2016

Country:  Spain

Author: National Ombudsman of Spain

Article language: es

Representantes de la Asociación de Promotores Públicos de Vivienda y Suelo se han reunido con la Defensora del Pueblo y el Adjunto Primero para tratar, fundamentalmente, el problema de la falta de viviendas sociales en régimen de alquiler.

La institución del Defensor del Pueblo ha expresado en reiteradas ocasiones la necesidad de que ayuntamientos y comunidades autónomas propietarias de viviendas públicas revisen los censos actualizados de los parques de viviendas que poseen, régimen de alquiler y propiedad de las mismas, así como su estado de conservación.

El Defensor del Pueblo considera conveniente fomentar el régimen de alquiler de estas viviendas, que en ningún caso debería ser superior al 30% de los ingresos familiares.

Las administraciones pueden colaborar con las comunidades de propietarios para acogerse al Plan Nacional de Vivienda 2013-2016 que prevé ayudas para la accesibilidad y acondicionamiento de viviendas.

El Defensor solicitó a la asociación un documento con propuestas para estudiar mejoras en la gestión de las viviendas públicas así como el estado de cumplimiento, según sus datos, del plan nacional de vivienda.

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