Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council is wrongly pursuing her for costs of work it carried out in default at her rental property as it is unlikely we will find fault.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council is wrongly pursuing her for costs of work it carried out in default on her rental property several years ago. Ms X complains the Council failed to properly investigate if she was the relevant person to be billed. Ms X says this has caused her stress and anxiety.

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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 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)

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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. The Council carried out work to Ms X’s rental property in 2019 under the Environmental Act 1990 and billed Ms X for the cost of the work. Ms X started to pay the debt off in instalments but stopped payments. The Council has passed the matter to its enforcement agents as the debt remains unpaid.
8. We will not investigate as the Council is entitled to recover money owed to it, including by way of the use of enforcement agents. It is unlikely we will find fault by the Council for doing this.
9. The decision to hold Ms X liable for the costs of the works was made in 2019. We will not investigate that decision as Ms X has not complained to us within a year of her knowing about it. It is reasonable to expect Ms X to have asked us to consider this matter within a year of her becoming aware of it and as such I do not consider there are good reasons to investigate now, as per paragraph three.
10. In addition, it is likely Ms X would have had an appeal right against the notice served on her, most likely to court, depending on the exact nature of the notice that was served. We would expect Ms X to have used any legal right to challenge the Council’s actions, at the time.
11. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is unlikely we will find fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman