Summary: We will not investigate this complaint the Council has not enforced licence conditions at a park home site. That is because the complaint is late.

The complaint

1. Mr and Mrs X complained the Park Home Site (the Site) where they own a property, was in breach of a license condition that specified vehicles could not park within three metres of neighbouring properties. They said despite a previous finding by the Ombudsman, the Council had not addressed this.
2. Mr and Mrs said that since December 2022, they had been unable to live in their property because they could not insure it. They said their Solicitor had contacted the Council in January 2023, and it had failed to respond. They said it had also withheld a report from Tribunal proceedings.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
6. 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))
7. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
8. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

9. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
10. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

11. Mr and Mrs X have been in dispute with the Site for several years. They have sought to address areas of dispute with the Property Tribunal. They have also raised some matters with the Council.
12. Mr and Mrs X complained to the Ombudsman in 2020 about the Council’s failure to enforce breaches of licence conditions at the Site. We did not uphold most of the complaint. However, we found the Council had not considered the potential breach of a license condition which required a minimum of 3 metres separation between vehicles and neighbouring properties. We therefore asked the Council to decide whether to take enforcement action around this licence condition.
13. The Council completed an inspection in June 2021. It found that on occasions, parking breached the three-metre rule. However, it assessed any risk from parking between the units as low. It decided not to take formal action. It said the Site agreed to write to residents about the parking of cars on site. The Council decided to take no further action.
14. Although Mr and Mrs X are unhappy with the Council’s decision, we will not investigate this complaint. The Council surveyed the parking in 2021 and decided not to take enforcement action. If Mr and Mrs X disagreed with the Council’s decision, it was reasonable for them to complain to us at the time. There is no good reason to exercise discretion to consider this matter now.
15. In any event, even if the complaint was not late, we would not investigate. I have considered the steps the Council took to consider the issue, and the information it took account of when deciding whether to enforce. There is no evidence of fault in how it took the decision, therefore we will not investigate.
16. We will also not investigate Mr and Mrs X’s complaint the Council did not respond to their solicitor’s letter. Not only is that complaint is late, but the contents of that letter also relate to matters we have previously investigated. As we have dealt with the substantive issues we will not reinvestigate. If Mr and Mrs X believe the Council withheld information from the Property Tribunal, that is a matter for the Tribunal, not the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

17. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman