Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s liability for damaging Mr X’s property. Mr X has an alternative legal remedy to pursue a claim for damages through the courts. Only the courts can decide the Council is liable for damages therefore it is reasonable to expect Mr X to use their legal remedy.

The complaint

1. Mr X said the Council was at fault because it had caused damage to his property, left him living in an unsafe property, and had failed to properly address his concerns about repairing the damage. Mr X said the Council’s communication about this was poor and has caused him distress.

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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. Damage 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 will not usually investigate complaint handling and communication faults if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34B(8))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Mr X says the Council caused damage to his property while carrying out work elsewhere. He also said in February 2026, an officer visited his property and verbally agreed it had caused damage. Mr X said since then, the Council has failed to properly communicate with him about this, including when it will arrange for his property to be repaired.
7. I will not investigate this complaint because it is a claim for damages. Mr X has an alternative legal remedy to pursue a claim for damages through the courts, in the event the Council’s insurers do not agree the Council is liable to pay for damages. And because only a court can decide what the Council’s liability is and what damages Mr X is due, unlike us, it would be reasonable to expect him to use this alternative remedy.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because they have an alternative legal remedy, through the courts and because only the courts can achieve the outcome they are looking for, it is reasonable to expect them to use this remedy.  

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman