Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about problems after Mr X bought his home from the Council. This is mainly because the complaint is late without good enough reason to accept it now.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council did not deal properly with matters related to an incorrect plan attached to his lease when he bought his home from the Council. He says the Council delayed resolving the matter, did not communicate properly and mishandled his complaint. Mr X states this delayed registering his property’s ownership and caused him expense and inconvenience.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. 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)
3. It is our decision whether to start, and when to end an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and copy complaint correspondence from the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The key events were from September 2022 to February 2025, especially August 2024 to February 2025. Mr X complained to us in early March 2026, between around 13 and 29 months after the events in question. So, the restriction in paragraph 2 applies.
7. Mr X told us family circumstances and illness affected his ability to come to us sooner. However, when I asked Mr X for details, I received no reply. Mr X says back-and-forth communications when the Council refused to give a substantive response at stage 2 of its complaint procedure also delayed him complaining to us. However, the Council made clear to Mr X on 7 August 2025 it would not deal with the complaint further and said he could complain to the Ombudsman. Mr X still took almost another seven months to come to us. The information I have does not persuade me there are good enough reasons to accept the late complaint now.
8. Even if points in paragraphs 6 and 7 did not apply, or if there was good reason for the lateness of the complaint to us, there are other reasons it would be disproportionate to investigate the complaint.
9. The Council has accepted some undue delay by it, but disagrees it was responsible for all the delay or the claimed effects. For example, the Council argues Mr X contributed to the problem by agreeing the accuracy of the plan that turned out to be inaccurate. If the plan was part of the basis for the sale of the home, arguably there was an onus on both parties, not just the Council, to check what they were agreeing was accurate. The Council also suggests there was some delay in Mr X’s solicitor emailing the correct address after a Council officer left. Besides, some of the time taken seems to concern registration of the property’s ownership details, which was not in the Council’s control.
10. Also, the substantive matter – accurate registration of the property – has now been resolved. So, there is nothing more we could achieve on this central practical point.
11. In all the circumstances, it would seem disproportionate for us to devote time and public money now to trying to reach a view on the disputed points about who was responsible for each part of the claimed delay and the claimed consequences.
12. Mr X also complains about how the Council handled his formal complaint. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. It is late without good enough reason to accept it now. Even if that were not the case, it would be disproportionate in the circumstances to investigate the matters.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman