Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the use of a building by an organisation. The complaint is made too late and the complainant can seek a remedy in court.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr B, represents a community organisation which I refer to as XX. He says the Council illegally removed XX from a building it previously used.

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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 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)
4. 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)
5. If someone has already sought a remedy in a court, we cannot investigate and have no discretion in this. The courts have decided this restriction applies even if the court action would not provide a remedy for all the claimed injustice. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I have considered what Mr B said in his complaint and background information provided by the Council. Mr B commented on a draft before I made this decision.

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What I found

7. The Council says it owns the freehold of the building which had been managed by another organisation, which I refer to as YY. The Council says YY ceased to exist in 2015 and it took back control of the building at that time.
8. The Council also says XX took court action in October 2014 but this was unsuccessful.
9. Solicitors acting for XX wrote to the Council in January 2019 in relation to possible legal claims regarding XX’s use of the building. They said XX’s occupation of the building was terminated in 2017. They also said XX had a lease agreement with YY.

Analysis

10. The central events in the complaint happened more than 12 months ago and it is now too late for Mr B to complain to us about them.
11. Issues about contractual matters such as leases and rights of occupancy are for the courts to decide. Even if Mr B had not complained too late, we would not investigate because he can seek a remedy in court. Further, we have no jurisdiction to consider any matter which has already been the subject of court action.
12. In his response to the draft decision, Mr B provided no reason for complaining late or details of the court action the Council had referred to.

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Final decision

13. I have decided we will not investigate this complaint for the reasons given in paragraphs 10 to 12.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman