Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions relating to an interim charging order it obtained from the courts. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council enforced a charging order against a deceased person’s property, Mrs Y, despite her having no beneficial interest in the property and had a Court of Protection Deputy in place. Mrs X says the Council failed to serve an order on her husband who is a joint owner and ignored mental capacity issues when deciding to apply to the Land Registry for a restriction on the sale of the property. Mrs X says the Council’s decisions have had severe impact on her family who are facing homelessness. Mrs X says the Council should review its actions, apologise and withdraw its HM Land Registry application. Mrs X says the Council should also review its procedures on enforcement action after death.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We may investigate a complaint on behalf of someone who has died or who cannot authorise someone to act for them. The complaint may be made by:

• their personal representative (if they have one), or
• someone we consider to be suitable.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(2) and 34C(2), as amended)

3. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
4. 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, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. We cannot consider a complaint from Mrs X on behalf of Mrs Y because there is an executor for Mrs Y’s estate who is suitable to represent a complaint.
8. We cannot investigate a complaint about what happened in court including the Court’s decision to grant an interim charging order to the Council.
9. We have exercised our discretion not to investigate the actions of the Council which relates to actions taken after it obtained the interim charging order. This includes the dispute about whether Mrs Y or her estate has a beneficial interest in the property as referred to in this complaint. The evidence available suggests the matter is or has been before the Court.
10. When the Council responded to Mrs X’s complaint it explained why it was making an application to HM Land Registry. It also confirmed it was willing to work with Mrs X’s conveyancing solicitor to withdraw the application, if necessary, provided certain conditions were met. The decision to sell the property does not appear to be related to the actions of the Council.
11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. It is unlikely we could add to the investigation already completed by the Council.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman