The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision terminate a commercial lease and failed to provide an alternative unit. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. The complaint is late and we have seen no good reason why the complainant could not have contacted us much sooner.
The complaint
Mrs X complains the Council lied to her when it terminated her lease on a shop and failed to offer her another unit as promised.
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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the events she complains about occurred in 2022. The complaint is therefore late, and we have seen no reason why Mrs X could not have complained to us much sooner.
Also, if Mrs X believes the Council wrongly terminated her contract it would be reasonable for her to take the matter to court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman