London Borough of Croydon (25 028 364)
Category : Environment and regulation > Trees
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 05 Aug 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with an insurance claim. This is because it would be reasonable to take the matter to court and there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
The complaint
- X complains a Council owned tree has damaged their property. They say their insurance company has told the Council to fix the problem, but it has not done so. X says this has caused damage to their property and is putting their health at risk. They would like the Council to fix the problem.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- If X has lodged an insurance claim, and is unhappy with the outcome, the legal issues raised here could only then be determined by a court. It would not be unreasonable for X to pursue their claim at court because it is the only body which would be able to decide liability and negligence issues.
- X also says the Council has not dealt with their complaint. The Council has advised X the issue is being dealt with by their insurance companies. We will not investigate this because it is not worthwhile for us to investigate complaints about complaint handling when we are not looking at the substantive matter.
Final decision
- We will not investigate X’s complaint because it would be reasonable to take the matter to court and there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman