The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Council not following legislation as it has no policy regarding how it will decide if a manager of a mobile homes site is fit and proper. This is because Mr X has not suffered any significant personal injustice.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council is not following legislation as it has no policy regarding how it will decide if a manager of a mobile homes site is fit and proper.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Mobile Homes (Requirement for Manager of Site to be Fit and Proper Person)(England) Regulations 2020, prohibits the use of land as a residential mobile home site unless the local authority is satisfied that the owner or manager of the site is a fit and proper person to manage the site. The purpose of the fit and proper person test is to improve the standards of mobile home site management.
Mr X complains the Council is not meeting this regulation as it does not have a policy setting out the criteria that must be met for a person to be considered ‘fit and proper’. The Council said it was addressing this and was considering a ‘fit and proper’ policy.
Mr X told us the alleged fault does not impact him personally, but he is concerned that it may impact him in the future.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has not suffered any significant personal injustice from the alleged faults.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman