Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about a tree in a neighbour’s garden. This is because the Council’s housing service manages the tree and we have no power to investigate a complaint which involves a council acting as a landlord.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, complains the Council will not prune a tree, to an acceptable degree, in her neighbour’s garden. Ms X wants the Council to remove the tree or cut back the branches to the boundary.

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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.
3. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. There is a tree in Ms X’s neighbour’s garden. Ms X says the branches overhang her garden. She is worried branches will fall causing injury; she also complains of tree debris and bird mess. Ms X says the Council agreed to do some work then backtracked. Ms X says it is not her responsibility to pay to prune the tree back to the boundary.
6. The Council told me its housing contractor recently completed some tree work.
7. The law says we cannot investigate any matter that involves the Council acting as a landlord. The tree is on housing land and is maintained by the housing service. We have no power to start an investigation because the decisions and correspondence about the tree are the responsibility of the Council when it is acting as a landlord.

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Final decision

8. We cannot investigate this complaint because we have no power to investigate a council when it is carrying out landlord functions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman