The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Mrs X complained the Council released unoccupied plots of land to new residents for garage plots without offering these plots to people on the waiting list. We do not find fault with the Council.
The complaint
Mrs X complained the Council released some unoccupied plots of council land behind her property to new residents to enable them to build garages.
Mrs X says she, and other residents, are on a waiting list for garages on the land and the Council failed to consider this waiting list when assigning the unoccupied plots of land.
Mrs X also complained that she made an enquiry of the Council in 2018 about buying or renting an unoccupied plot but the Council rejected her approach.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended) We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended) If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I have considered all the information Mrs X provided. I have also asked the Council questions and requested information, and in turn have considered the Council’s response.
Mrs X and the Council had opportunity to comment on my draft decision before I made my final decision.
What I found
Relevant Council policy The Council’s policy states it does not own the garages, or the garage base, on the plots of land behind Mrs X’s property. The Council owns the land on which the garages sit. The Council rents out this land to prospective tenants.
The Council’s policy states that it is not responsible for the condition of the garages on the land because it does not own these garages. It is the responsibility of the tenant to maintain the garage.
The Council’s policy says that following an application for a garage it will place the applicant at the bottom of the waiting list. When a garage becomes available, the Council will write to all people on the waiting list offering the garage. The Council will allocate the garage to the highest order applicant on the waiting list.
The Council says if a person does not respond to the offer letter it will remove the person from the waiting list.
What happened Mrs X applied to the Council for a plot of land, which I will call a “garage plot” in this decision. The Council placed Mrs X on the waiting list for these garage plots.
In May 2018, Mrs X contacted the Council to query if she could purchase or rent the land directly being her property with a view to building her own garage on it. The Council responded to advise the area Mrs X had enquired about was part of its “garden tenancy agreement” and not available for rent or purchase.
On 5 July 2021, the Council wrote to Mrs X to advise a garage plot had become available and invited Mrs X to express an interest in this plot. The Council advised it would remove Mrs X from the waiting list if she did not respond. The Council sent this letter to every person on the waiting list. At this time, Mrs X was fourth on the waiting list.
Mrs X she did not receive this letter. Since Mrs X did not receive the letter, she did not respond to the Council and it removed her from the waiting list. The Council gave the plot to the person first on the waiting list.
The person second on the waiting list also failed to respond and the Council removed them from the waiting list. The Council offered the next available plot in December 2021 which the person third on the waiting list in July 2021 got.
The Council created three new garage plots in December 2021. The Council offered two of these plots to people on the waiting list. The Council gave the third plot to a resident who had been using the plot in an unauthorised manner for parking before its change to a garage plot.
The two plots offered to the waiting list were taken by people below Mrs X in the waiting list in July 2021.
The Council offered another plot in January 2022 which someone below Mrs X in July 2021 got.
On 28 February 2022, Mrs X complained to the Council. Mrs X said she had been on the waiting list for a garage plot for several years but had not been offered garage plots. Mrs X also complained that residents who had moved out of the property had not surrendered garage plots. Mrs X said the Council told her in 2018 that it would not be releasing any more land but had since done so in 2021.
The Council provided a Stage 2 complaint response to Mrs X on 10 March 2022. The Council said it had removed her from the waiting list in July 2021 because she did not respond to an offer of a garage plot. The Council said it would place Mrs X back on the waiting list. The Council told Mrs X it had no rule that residents must give up the garage plots on leaving the area and it has no rules preventing one person renting multiple garages. The Council said it had recently created three new plots and allocated these to people on the waiting list.
Mrs X requested consideration of her complaint further on 13 March 2022.
The Council provided a final response to Mrs X on 5 April 2022. The Council said when Mrs X enquired about land in 2018 she was not asking about the garage plots but a different part of the land subject to a garden tenancy agreement. The Council advised it did not give one of the plots to a person on the waiting list and, on reflection, should have offered this to people on the waiting list first. The Council promised to put Mrs X name on top of the waiting list. The Council also made changes to its process for contacting people on the waiting list. And, the Council said it would complete an audit of the garages to ensure they were complying with the terms and conditions of the tenancy agreements.
In May 2022, the Council met with Mrs X and discovered a concrete base to a garage plot not registered on its system. The Council updated this plot and agreed a tenancy agreement with Mrs X for this garage plot.
Analysis The Council followed its policy in July 2021 when it removed Mrs X from the garage plot waiting list.
The Council sent Mrs X a letter offering her a garage plot. This letter explained that if Mrs X failed to respond to the offer, it would remove her from the waiting list. When Mrs X failed to respond, the Council removed her from the waiting list.
Most of the people on the waiting list responded to the Council’s offer of the garage plot in July 2021. This supports the Council sent out the letters to the people on the waiting list and I cannot evidence otherwise. While Mrs X did not receive this letter, this is not through the fault of the Council.
The Council removing Mrs X from the waiting list in August 2021 was not fault.
From the date the Council removed Mrs X from the waiting list until Mrs X next contacted the Council, on 28 February 2022, the Council allocated five garage plots, including the three newly created plots. Since Mrs X was not on the waiting list, the Council did not offer her any of these plots. Since the Council was under no duty to offer the garage plots to Mrs X, there is no fault from the Council.
While the Council gave one of the new plots to a person not on the waiting list, this has not caused an injustice to Mrs X directly. This is because Mrs X was not on the waiting list at this time and would not have been offered this plot anyway.
Within a month of Mrs X’s complaint on 28 February 2022, the Council has restored Mrs X to the waiting list and moved her to the top of this list. This ensured she claimed her rightful place had she not been removed in July 2021. The Council acted quickly in response to Mrs X’s complaint and addressed this in a suitable manner. I do not find fault with how the Council responded to resolve Mrs X’s concerns.
The Council has since allocated Mrs X a garage plot three months after her complaint. Since Mrs X now has a tenancy agreement for a garage plot this has addressed the underling injustice to her complaint. Since the Council had no records of this garage plot before 2022 it could not have allocated this plot to Mrs X sooner.
Final decision
I have completed my investigation as there was no fault by Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman