London Borough of Southwark (22 001 112)
Category : Other Categories > Commercial and contracts
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 09 May 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s disposal of his belongings from a garage it rented without contacting him. This is because it would be reasonable for him to take the matter to court.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council removed his belongings from a garage he was renting without notice. He says this occurred prior to July 2021 despite the Council agreeing to wait until the end of lockdown. He says he has lost a large amount of stock for his business, and this has affected his business long term.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says the Council contacted him over non-payment of rent and agreed to hold off disposing of the items held in the garage due to COVID-19 restrictions. He says despite this agreement the Council disposed of items worth around £20,000 when it cleared the garage before COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in July 2021.
- Complaints of property loss or damage are issues which are more appropriate for the courts. It would be reasonable to expect Mr X to make a claim against the Council through the courts given the level of loss he is alleging and as he says it had an impact on his business. A court would be better placed than the Ombudsman to decide these issues, which are not necessarily straightforward legally.
Final decision
- We will not investigate X’s complaint because it would be reasonable for Mr X to go to court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman