The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the impact of building work carried out by his landlord to comply with a Council-issued enforcement notice. The Council has appropriately explained it is a private matter between Mr X and his landlord. Any investigation by us would not add to the Council’s or lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council’s enforcement action against his landlord resulted in disruptive building work causing him to leave the property. Mr X wants the Council to compensate him for the disturbance and loss of his home.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate 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 or continue an investigation if we decide: we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In 2019 the Council served an enforcement notice against Mr X’s landlord for unauthorised development of his property. Mr X continued to live in the property, renewing his lease in 2022 and 2023. Mr X’s landlord finally started building work to comply with the enforcement notice in June 2023.
During the building work, Mr X contacted several Council departments to say the property had become uninhabitable. Mr X moved out of the property in late 2023 and complained to the Council. He asked for compensation for being forced to move to another property.
The Council said it was entitled to pursue the enforcement action and the building work was necessary to ensure the property complied with planning and building regulations. It said any dispute about the condition of the property during the works was between Mr X and his landlord. While the Council did not agree to pay Mr X compensation it did apologise it had not communicated better with him when he first contacted the Council.
We will not investigate this complaint. The Council was entitled to pursue enforcement action against Mr X’s landlord. It has appropriately explained that any dispute over the impact of the building work is a private matter between Mr X and his landlord. Any investigation would not add to the Council’s or lead to a different outcome.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because any investigation by us would not add to the Council’s or lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman