Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to overgrown trees. Mrs X has an alternative legal remedy through the courts. Only the courts can establish whether the Council is liable for compensation for damage to her property. Therefore, it would be reasonable to expect Mrs X to use this alternative remedy.

The complaint

1. Mrs X says the Council has failed, over several years, to properly maintain the trees that overhang her property. She says the trees have caused damage to her property, and she wants the Council to prune them to an acceptable level.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. Negligence claims and interpreting the law around civil liability are generally best decided by a court where the Council does not accept insurance liability. Only a court can decide whether the problem should have been dealt with by the Council before it caused damage to a person’s property, or if it is liable to pay damages for a person’s loss.  
4. 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))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mrs X said she had repeatedly asked the Council to prune large trees that overhang her property over the past 10 years. In June 2026, she raised this as a complaint and is concerned the trees have already caused damage to her property and are likely to cause more in the future.
8. Firstly, we cannot investigate a complaint that the Council has been negligent and is liable for compensating Mrs X for the damage to her property. As outlined in paragraph three, Mrs X would need to make a claim against the Council’s insurers and, if the Council denies liability, then she would need to pursue a claim through the courts if necessary.
9. Mrs X wants the Council to carry out work to the trees to prevent them causing further damage. The Council conducted a site visit and said it had arranged for a contractor to prune some of the trees. It said it would schedule this work in alongside other competing demands.
10. We will not investigate the Council’s response to Mrs X’s service request for pruning work to be carried out. This is because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable. We could not direct the Council on when it needs to complete this work, or the extent to which it needs to prune the trees in line with Mrs X’s wishes.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because she has an alternative legal remedy through the courts to make a claim for damages.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman