Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council recovering funds from the proceeds of the sale of her late parent’s property in 2019. The complaint is late, and there is no good reason to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council’s decision in 2019 to recover funds from the proceeds of the sale of her late parent’s property under a deferred payment agreement. She disputes the Council was entitled to recover the funds because of the location of the property.
2. Mrs X says the Council’s decision reduced the amount she received from her inheritance. She wants the Council to repay the funds it recovered.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. 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)
5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Mrs X.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The events Mrs X complains of are over seven years old. This makes her complaint late. If she had concerns about the Council’s payment recovery in 2019 then she could have complained at that time. I have seen no good reason for the delay in complaining to us. Therefore, I will not investigate.
9. In any event, Mrs X’s complaint concerns matters of legal interpretation; these are better addressed by the courts and, in these circumstances, only a court could determine whether the Council was entitled to recover the funds and whether any wrongly recovered funds should be returned. It is therefore reasonable for Mrs X to use her alternative legal remedy.

Complaint handling

10. The Council refused to accept Mrs X’s complaint because it was older than 12 months. It was entitled to do so under its complaints policy. There is not enough evidence of fault on this point to justify us investigating.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is late and it is reasonable for her to use her alternative legal remedy in the circumstances. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s complaint handling.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman