Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of matters relating to an empty and dilapidated property in his area. We will not investigate the complaint because the Council is now taking appropriate action to address the problem and Mr X has not been caused injustice sufficient to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, says the Council has delayed unreasonably in taking effective enforcement action against the owner of an empty and dilapidated property in his area. He says he has been caused major upset and worry by the Council’s lack of attention and wants compensation and a compulsory purchase order made so it can demolish the property.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
5. I gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision and considered what he said.

Back to top

My assessment

6. Mr X complained to the Council about the state of an empty and dilapidated property in his area about which he had safety concerns. The Council visited the site but the problem was not resolved and Mr X complained again a year later, following which the Council issued a s215 notice which requires the owner of the property to carry out specified works by the beginning of October 2021.
7. In responding to Mr X’s complaint about its actions, the Council acknowledged it had not dealt with the case as quickly as it should have and that it should have updated him sooner. It explained it had been affected by prolonged staff shortages and a very high caseload and apologised for this.
8. While there has been fault by the Council, we must also consider what injustice the complainant has been caused by the fault and what useful outcome an investigation may achieve. Making and pursuing a complaint will necessarily take time and trouble and I do not consider, even if we investigated, we would be likely to propose any significant compensation payment for Mr X and we cannot direct the Council to issue a compulsory purchase order.

Back to top

Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council is now taking appropriate action to address the problem and Mr X has not been caused injustice sufficient to warrant an investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman