The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Mr and Mrs X complain about the Council’s handling of matters relating to a property neighbouring theirs which has been in a state of disrepair for a number of years and is negatively affecting theirs. We will not investigate the complaint because it is a late complaint and so falls outside our jurisdiction and any new complaint must first be addressed under the Council’s own complaints procedure before we will consider it.
The complaint
The complainants, who I refer to as Mr and Mrs X, complain about the Council’s handling of matters relating to a property neighbouring theirs which has been in a state of disrepair for a number of years. They want the Council to address the problems they face which they say are the same now as they were six years ago.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended) The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the council and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainants and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
I gave the complainants the opportunity to comment on my draft decision and considered what they said.
My assessment
Mr and Mrs X contacted the Council about matters relating to a property adjacent to their property which is in a state of disrepair and has been for a number of years, causing a variety of different problems for them.
The Council told the complainants that while it was too late now for it to consider past events, they could submit a complaint about current issues affecting them.
The restriction highlighted at paragraph 3 applies to events from 6 years ago. As we would reasonably have expected the complainants to have complained to us about them sooner, the complaint is late and so falls outside our jurisdiction.
The complainants have the opportunity to make a new complaint to the Council about recent issues affecting them. If, at the end of the Council’s complaints procedure, they remain dissatisfied with its response, they can complain again to the Ombudsman and we will consider matters further to see if the new complaint is one we can and should investigate.
In responding to my draft decision, Mr and Mrs X say they only ever made one complaint to the Council and that was in September 2021. However, they did not proceed with that complaint. If they want current problems to be addressed by the Council they will need to make a formal complaint to it.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is a late complaint and so falls outside our jurisdiction and any new complaint must first be addressed under the Council’s own complaints procedure before we will consider it.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman