Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the disposal of her old stair lift as the complaint is late and there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify investigating.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council’s contractor removed a stairlift she had purchased because it no longer met her needs, and said it had disposed of it, despite it still being in working order. Ms X considers she should have had some money back.
2. Ms X said she had assumed the new stair lift belonged to her but complained the Council told her it owned the stair lift.

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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, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

What happened

7. Ms X paid for a stairlift to be installed in her property. The Council subsequently said the stair lift did not meet her disability needs and should be replaced. Its contractor removed the stair lift in August 2023 and installed a new one. Its record said that, although the old stair lift was still operating, it could not be reused as it was damaged, and it listed the points of damage. It said the old stair lift would be disposed of and it told the Council it had done this.
8. About eighteen months later, Ms X complained to the Council. She said she was worried the contractor had, in fact, sold the old stair lift and, if so, she should have received money for it because she paid for it initially. The Council confirmed the records said the stair lift had been disposed of and, given the lapse of time, there was no way to establish otherwise.
9. Ms X then raised a query about the ownership of the new stairlift. The Council confirmed it owned the stairlift and remained responsible for servicing it. It said if she moved, it would remove the stair lift as it may not be suitable for the person moving into her property.

My assessment

10. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events complained about. Ms X complained in late July 2025 about the disposal of her old stair lift in August 2023. There is no evidence she could not have complained to us earlier and no good reasons for investigating this now. In any case, as the Council said in its complaint response, we could not establish whether the old stair lift was disposed of, given the lapse of time. And there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council in 2023 to justify us investigating.
11. The Council arranged for a new stair lift to be installed in August 2023 when the old one was removed. There is no indication it told her that she would own the new stairlift at that time. There is also no indication the Council owning it has caused Ms X an injustice as it means the Council remains responsible for servicing it. There is therefore insufficient evidence of fault causing sufficient injustice to justify us investigating further.
12. For these reasons, we will not consider the complaint further.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is late and because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing sufficient injustice to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman