Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to end the complainant’s allotment tenancy in 2018. This is because it is a late complaint and because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, disagrees with the Council’s decision to end his allotment tenancy in July 2018. He wants the Council to cancel the termination.

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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 an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I read the complaint and the Council’s responses. I considered the warning the Council issued in May 2018 and photographs of the plot. I also considered comments Mr X made in reply to a draft decision.

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What I found

What happened

5. The Council inspected Mr X’s allotment in May 2018. It then issued a warning for breaching the rules and for failing to cultivate the plot. The Council gave Mr X 21 days to comply with the notice. The letter said the Council could terminate the tenancy agreement if he did not comply.
6. The Council inspected the plot in July 2018. It decided Mr X had not complied with the notice. It notified Mr X it had ended the tenancy and he had 21 days to clear the site.
7. Mr X appealed against the decision and complained. He argued, for example, that he had been maintaining the site, that he was not storing rubbish, and that having an allotment was good for his health. The Council inspected the plot in September before responding to his appeal.
8. The Council did not uphold his complaints or appeal. The Council signposted Mr X to the Ombudsman in March 2019. The Council’s letter did not say Mr X had 12 months to contact the Ombudsman.
9. Mr X complained to the Ombudsman in March 2020.

Assessment

10. I will not start an investigation because this is a late complaint. Mr X has been aware of the loss of the allotment since July 2018 and he was signposted to the Ombudsman in March 2019. But he did not complain until March 2020. Mr X says the complaint is not late because he complained in March 2020, two days before the expiry of the 12 month deadline. However, the law says people should complain within 12 months of first becoming aware of the issue. This means Mr X needed to complain by July 2019. The law does not say people should complain within 12 months of completing the complaints process. I have not seen any good reason to accept such a late complaint and, while Mr X has said how important that allotment was to him, he has not provided any reason for waiting so long to complain to the Ombudsman.
11. Even if the complaint was not late, I would not start an investigation. This is because the Ombudsman does not act as an appeal body and there is no suggestion of fault by the Council. The Council acted appropriately by inspecting the plot and issuing a warning. It then ended the agreement after a further inspection showed Mr X had not complied with the warning. Officers inspected the plot in September, before dealing with the appeal, and found the plot was still in the same condition. In addition, the photographs show officers made their decisions based on evidence. Mr X has a different perspective on the condition of the plot but the Council’s conclusions were based on the evidence. And, it is not my role to say that the Council should have formed a different view about the state of the plot.

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Final decision

12. I will not start an investigation because this is a late complaint and because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman