The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Mrs D complains about a contract from 2014. The Ombudsman has closed the complaint because he expects a complaint to usually be made within 12 months.
The complaint
The complainant (whom I refer to as Mrs D) complains about a contract for home improvements in 2014.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), 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 looked at the information provided by Mrs D.
I shared my draft decision with both parties.
What I found
Mrs D signed a contract for home improvements with a contractor in 2014. She wrote to the Council in 2020 complaining about the contract and that works had not been done correctly. The Council explained it could not investigate her complaint because it was made too late. It did, however, offer to assist her outside of the complaints process. It acted as a go-between with the contractor. Subsequently the contractor offered a remedy to Mrs D which she refused.
Mrs D complains about events that took place in 2014. I see no basis to warrant investigation of those matters. The Ombudsman expects a complaint to be made to him within 12 months. The Council has also applied its 12-month rule to the complaint.
In addition, the main source of the complaint is not the Council because it has no contractual role. Mrs D has the option to purse the dispute with the actual contractor through the courts. The Ombudsman would expect her to use that route.
Final decision
I have closed the investigation because the complaint falls outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman