Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to remove a legal charge from his property following a court case about the issue. This is because there are other bodies better placed to consider the matter.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council failed to remove a charge on his property for a loan he did not receive and which the courts have decided is null and void. He says he has been put to time and trouble pursuing the matter through the courts and has suffered harassment from the Council about the loan. He also claims he has suffered psychologically as a result of the burden of his property having a charge registered against it.

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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:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. We may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court but cannot investigate if the person has already been to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I reviewed Mr X’s complaint, shared my draft decision with him and considered his comments.

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What I found

5. The Council registered a charge on Mr X’s property more than 10 years ago. Mr X says the charge was for a loan payment of more than £8,000 which he did not receive. He took the matter to court arguing breach of contract and that a material alteration to the legal charge rendered it null and void; he says the court agreed with his argument and that the Council should remove the charge. However the court dismissed his appeal and made no order regarding the charge itself as Mr X had not sought one as part of his claim.
6. Mr X says the Council is at fault for failing to remove the charge following the court’s decision and wants it to do this now. He also wants an apology and compensation.
7. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. We cannot consider any complaint about the Council’s actions which have been put to the court and we have previously dealt with Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s refusal to remove the charge so I cannot now revisit the same issue.
8. Mr X complains the Council should have removed the charge from his property following the court’s decision and claims its failure to do so is fault. This is a new issue but the court made no order on this point as detailed above. Had Mr X wanted the Council to remove the charge he could have sought this as part of his claim. He could also make a new claim on this point now.
9. If Mr X believes the court’s decision required the Council to remove the charge he may wish to seek legal advice about whether he could make a new claim for its failure to comply. It is not for us to interpret the court’s decision and require action by the Council which it did not order.
10. Alternatively, if Mr X believes the judgement invalidates the charge and that it therefore serves no useful purpose, he may apply to the Land Registry to remove it. The Land Registry has the power to remove the charge and this is not something we can achieve; it is therefore better placed to consider the point.

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Final decision

11. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the courts and/or the Land Registry are better placed to consider the matter.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman