Breckland District Council (25 022 172)
Category : Other Categories > Commercial and contracts
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 23 Jun 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of an application for a commercial lease. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating further.
The complaint
- Mr B complains the Council unfairly denied him from renting commercial space owned by the Council.
- He says this has prevented him from expanding his business as he couldn’t obtain the commercial space he needed.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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,
- any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
- we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
- We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- While I appreciate it will have been frustrating for Mr B not to have been able to rent a property owned by the Council we cannot investigate his complaint. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating his complaint. The Council has carried out a background check and decided whether to offer a lease based on the information available. We are unlikely to find fault in its decision-making process.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify investigating.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman