Leeds City Council (21 015 886)

Category : Environment and regulation > Trading standards

Decision : Upheld

Decision date : 03 Mar 2022

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Mrs X says the Council’s delay in investigating her complaint led to a company going into liquidation. This means she cannot get her money back. The Council is at fault because of the delays in its response. However, this failing did not cause Mrs X significant personal injustice which warrants our involvement.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, I shall call Mrs X, says the Council delayed in providing her a service. She says it misled her and failed to communicate in a timely manner. The company it should have investigated has gone into liquidation and she cannot get her money back.
  2. Mrs X wants compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:
  • any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement
  • we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation
  • further investigation would not lead to a different outcome
  • we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants

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

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by the Mrs X and the Council.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

  1. In May 2018, the Council received information from the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline (CACH).
  2. The details were for information only as the CACH had given Mrs X legal advice about the possible action she could take.
  3. In October 2018, Mrs X contacted the Council directly. The Council established that Mrs X had originally had a finance agreement with a company for installing solar panels. The company went into liquidation in 2015. Mrs X took out a personal loan to repay the original finance agreement and have further work done. The new company failed to carry out the work.
  4. Because Mrs X had taken out a personal loan and paid off the original credit agreement, she had no right of redress from the loan company. This is because it is a personal unsecured loan not directly linked to either the original company which installed the panels. Nor to the new company she engaged to carry out new work.
  5. Despite her having no right of redress, the Council Officer offered to try and help Mrs X by speaking to the personal loan company. The new company went into liquidation in 2019.
  6. Mrs X contacted the Council again in 2020. It acknowledges it should not have raised Mrs X’s expectations that it could help resolve her case. It acknowledges that it did not respond to her enquiries in a timely manner. It has apologised for the delay in responding to her and says it will ensure staff are trained appropriately to prevent a repeat of the poor service she received.
  7. The Council has already accepted fault in the delays in responding to Mrs X. But this delay did not contribute to any financial loss suffered by Mrs X. When the CACH gave details to the Council in 2018, she had already converted her finance into a personal loan. The personal loan is not directly linked to the provision of goods or services, so Mrs X has no right of redress to the loan company.

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Final decision

  1. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the Council has apologised for delays in responding to Mrs X. This is a suitable remedy. It is not responsible for any financial loss caused to Mrs X by either of the private companies she engaged to carry out work on her home.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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