Summary: We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint about the location of communal bin stores nearby his property and the Council’s handling of this. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complains about the location of communal bin stores nearby his property.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34(B))

3. We will not usually investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34B(8))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr Y and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr Y owns the flat he lives in. A housing association (HA) owns other flats within the block. The bin store is located within Mr Y’s ownership; however, HA tenants have legal rights to access it. This is an unusual arrangement, but it is reasonable to expect Mr Y was aware of such matters when purchasing his property many years ago.
7. Mr Y wants the bins to be relocated to another communal area. The Council has no power to require such action. If a planning application was made to relocate the bins, the Council would consider this on its planning merits. However, the Council cannot facilitate the relocation of private assets outside of this.
8. Mr Y says the Council should issue an abatement order to HA. The Council considered this and explained it has no evidence to justify the exercise of such action.
9. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether somebody disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
10. Mr Y wants to Council to install security measures on the bin store to prevent unauthorised access. The Council explained it has no authority to complete works on private property. I note Mr Y has previously taken action to secure the bin store, which resulted in HA taking legal action against him because its tenants have rights of access.
11. I acknowledge the frustration the bin store’s location is causing Mr Y. But issues evolving from this relate to private property rights and ownership, of which the Council cannot get involved within. There is insufficient evidence of the Council failing to act within its powers and responsibilities, on matters it has jurisdiction over. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint.
12. Mr Y may wish to consider seeking legal advice, if he believes the Council or HA are liable for damages caused to his property. The Ombudsman has no powers to enforce an award of damages and only the Court can do this.
13. I understand Mr Y is seeking compensation from the Council. We do not recommend that Councils pay compensation. Sometimes we recommend that Councils pay a symbolic payment to remedy injustice caused by fault. However, where there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions, we do not consider remedies.
14. Mr Y has also complained about the Council’s complaint handling. However, where the Ombudsman has decided not to investigate the substantive issues complained about, we will not usually use public resources to consider more minor matters such as complaint handling.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman