Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a commercial lease for the complainant’s business. This is because the courts are best placed to deal with contractual matters, and it would be reasonable for the complainant to pursue the matter in court.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council is at fault in the way it carried out rent reviews for a commercial lease. He says the delay in reviews carried out has resulted in substantial arrears for back-dated rent. He says this has disrupted the running of the business, caused financial strain and has caused stress and upset.
2. Mr X also complains about the way the Council has handled his complaint.

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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. 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 information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X’s company has a long-standing commercial lease with the Council. He says the Council has only recently carried out rent reviews that were due in 2016 and 2021. In November 2025 Mr X says the Council asked the company to pay a substantial amount of money in backdated rent as a result of the rent reviews.
8. Mr X says the Council was not pro-active in carrying out rent reviews in a timely manner and has questioned the legality of the Council implementing retrospective rent rises. He also says the Council has not engaged in a meaningful way and not responded to many of his emails.
9. The Council says it can implement the rent reviews and has offered the company a payment plan for the arrears to be paid in instalments without interest being incurred.
10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. The matter turns on the implementation of a commercial lease, and the courts are best placed to consider such matters. It would be reasonable for Mr X to take legal action if he believes the Council has breached the terms of the commercial lease agreement, or if he believes fault on the Council’s part has caused his company financial loss.
11. Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his complaint. It is not a good use of our resources to investigate how a Council has handled a complaint if the substantive matter does not fall to be investigated. That is the case here.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it would be reasonable for him to pursue the matter in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman