Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions when placing local land charges on Ms X’s property. The matter relates to notices served to Ms X as a private landlord. It was reasonable to expect Ms X to appeal to court about the notices.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council carried out repairs to her property in 2016 that she regards as excessive.
2. Ms X wants the Council to return the monies it charged against the property when it was sold.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Ms X.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Ms X was a private landlord who rented properties out to tenants. For the property in question, the Council issued her with a notice which required her to carry out specified works to it.
9. The Council carried out work in default, charged Ms X and placed land charges on the property. Ms X complained to us because she views a charge for a repair to be excessive and wants to be reimbursed by the Council.
10. The more time passes between the events and a complaint, the more unlikely it is we can investigate them effectively, gather reliable evidence and reach a sound decision. In older cases, we also may not be able to achieve a meaningful remedy because too many circumstances have changed. We are often unable to show why events occurred or understand who was responsible.
11. We will not investigate this complaint. The complaint is late. It is likely Ms X was legally represented when the property was sold, so, on balance, the information was available to her at the time.
12. Additionally, Ms X had appeal rights to the Magistrates’ Court against the notices issued to her by the Council, which it would have been reasonable for her to act on.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is late, and the matter carried an alternative court remedy that it was reasonable for her to use.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman