Summary: Mr X complained about overgrown gardens which he says are affecting a private rear access route to his property. He wants the Council to take action. The Ombudsman should not exercise his discretion to investigate this complaint. This is because it concerns matters which he was aware of more than 12 months before complaining to us.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about the Council’s failure to take action against neighbouring householders who have allowed their garden to overgrow a rear accessway to his property. He also says some fence panels have not been replaced when they fell into the access. He wants the Council to take action against the householders and tenants of the property to make then keep their gardens tidy.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council.

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered all the information which Mr X submitted with his complaint.

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What I found

5. Mr X complained to his member of Parliament (MP) about the overgrown condition of his neighbour’s garden and the obstruction of a private access to the rear of his home in 2016. In 2017 he complained again and the MP wrote to us on his behalf. The complaint was premature because the Council had not been given an opportunity to respond through its complaints procedure. The MP made a formal complaint and the Council replied to him in 2017.
6. The Council told the MP that the gardens and the accessway are private property and it would not normally get involved in private matters. If the gardens were in such a poor state as to be a public nuisance it could consider serving a Community Protection Notice on all the owners but in this case it did not do so. Councils have no duty to make private householders keep their gardens tidy unless they are overgrowing the public highway or causing other public nuisance.
7. Mr X did not resubmit his complaint after the MP wrote to him. In 2020 he made another complaint to the MP about the same matter. We do not normally investigate complaints about matters which the complainant has been aware of for more than 12 months. In this case Mr X could have submitted a new complaint to us within 12 months of receiving the Council’s response but he did not do so. We have some discretion to consider late complaints but in this case the matter concerns private property and we would not be able to recommend a remedy which could resolve the matter.

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Final decision

8. The Ombudsman should not exercise his discretion to investigate this complaint. This is because it concerns matters which he was aware of more than 12 months before complaining to us.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman