Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about possible future damage to his wall from Council grass cutting. The Ombudsman cannot add to the Council’s assurances given to Mr X in this regard. Additionally, Mr X’s complaint that the Council will not sell him the strip of land is made late to us.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about damage caused to his wall by a Council mower and is not satisfied with Council assurances that a strimmer will be used in future. Mr X also complains the Council has refused to sell him the strip of land in question.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. 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)
5. 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

6. I have considered what Mr X said in his complaint and sent him my draft findings on the complaint for his comments. Mr X did not provide further comment.

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What I found

7. Mr X complains his wall has been damaged more than once by a Council grass mower. The Council has said it will only use a strimmer at the location in future but Mr X has concerns further damage will occur.
8. Mr X has asked to buy the piece of land but the Council says it is not eligible for disposal in this way as it forms part of its estate landscaping. It told Mr X this in April 2018.

Analysis

9. We cannot add to the assurances the Council has given to Mr X about the steps it intends to take to avoid future damage.
10. It is open to Mr X to ultimately take action in the courts in respect of any current or future damage. There is a low-cost procedure open to anyone to make a money claim in the courts. As only the courts can say whether the Council is legally liable for the damage, it is reasonable to expect Mr X to take such action should he require a remedy for the damage.
11. Mr X has known about the Council’s decision on his request to buy the land since April 2018. Mr X’s complaint about this is therefore made late to us and Mr X has not provided good reasons as to why he did not complainer to us sooner about this. This aspect of the complaint is therefore outside our legal remit.

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Final decision

12. My decision is that the Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot add to what the Council has said about steps it will take to avoid future damage; Mr X has a legal remedy should he wish to seek compensation for the current or future damage and Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to sell him the land is made late to us.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman