Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to take action to recover Council-owned land allegedly appropriated by a property owner along Mrs Q’s road. This is because the claimed fault has not caused her a personal injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr D has complained on behalf of Mrs Q about the actions of Surrey County Council. He said the Council had wrongly measured the front boundary of a property along Mrs Q’s road. As a result, it had decided not to take action to recover Council-owned land appropriated by the property owner.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information Mr D provided. I considered his comments on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

4. In 2018 new owners moved into a property along Mrs Q’s road. She does not live next door to the property.
5. The new owners moved their front fence forward by three metres. Mrs Q believes they have, therefore, appropriated three metres of Council-owned land. She complained to the Council.
6. The Council investigated Mrs Q’s concerns and measured the property’s boundaries. It decided the new owners had not taken any Council-owned land and so said it would not take enforcement action to recover the land.
7. Mr D said, among other things, that

• the Council failed to accurately measure the property’s front boundary line;
• the Council gave Mrs Q misleading documentation containing incorrect and flawed data;
• an expert’s report questioned the validity of the Council’s report.

Assessment

8. We will not investigate this complaint.
9. Mrs Q is unhappy the Council will not take enforcement action to recover Council-owned land appropriated by a new property owner. However, Mrs Q does not live next to the property. And, the new owners have not appropriated her land. So, even if the Council is at fault in the way claimed, Mrs Q has not suffered a personal injustice because of that fault.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because Mrs Q has not suffered an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman