Summary: We will not investigate the complaint about matters relating to a Compulsory Purchase Order it made against the complainants property in 2015. This is because the complainant could pursue the matter through the courts and because the events happened too long ago.

The complaint

1. Mrs C complains on behalf of her husband, who I will refer to as Mr C, about the Council’s handling of matters relating to a Compulsory Purchase Order it made against Mr C’s business in 2015. Mrs C says the Council failed to proceed with the order, meaning Mr C missed out on a significant amount of compensation.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered Mrs C’s complaint and supporting documents. I sent a draft version of this decision to Mrs C and invited her comments.

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What I found

6. Mr C was a leaseholder of a business in a property located in an area undergoing regeneration.
7. In December 2015, the Council offered to purchase the property from the landlord under a Compulsory Purchase Order. The Council therefore offered to compensate the landlord as the owner of the property and Mr C as the leaseholder.
8. During the summer of 2017, all parties agreed a level of compensation under the Compulsory Purchase Order.
9. However, the landlord of the property later withdrew from the arrangement and in May 2019, the Council made the decision not to proceed with the Compulsory Purchase Order.
10. Mr C instructed his solicitor to act in relation to matters concerning the Compulsory Purchase Order. Mr C’s solicitor provided Mr C with advice about potential action in November 2019.
11. Mrs C complains that the Council should have proceeded with the Compulsory Purchase Order in 2017, and forced his landlord to sell the property. Mrs C says the Council’s failure to do so means Mr C has missed out on thousands of pounds of compensation.

Assessment

12. I will not investigate Mrs C’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to proceed with a Compulsory Purchase Order. If Mrs C believes there is a legal case against the Council, she can act against it through the courts. This is an alternative remedy we would reasonably expect her to make use of, particularly considering the large amount of compensation that Mrs C believes the Council owes.
13. A further restriction on our powers to investigate, highlighted at paragraph 3, also applies to this complaint. The landlord withdrew from the agreement some four years ago, and the decision to end the order was made by the Council some two years ago. It therefore is too late for the complaint to be investigated by the Ombudsman now and I see no grounds which warrant exercising discretion to do so now.

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Final decision

14. I will not investigate this complaint. This is because Mrs C could take the matter to court and because the events happened too long ago.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman