Summary: We will not investigate Miss Q’s complaint that Building Control Officers wrongly advised her builders to dig one metre deep foundations for her house extension. This is because we cannot achieve the outcome Miss Q would like.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I have called Miss Q, complained that St Albans City Council’s Building Control Officers wrongly advised her builders to dig one metre deep foundations for her house extension. She said the Officers failed to spot nearby trees and, as a result, later told her she needed deeper foundations.

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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 we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information Miss Q provided. I invited Miss Q to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

4. Most building work requires Building Regulations approval.
5. Primary responsibility for ensuring building work meets the required standards lies with those who commission the work and those to do it. Building Control Officers visit at various stages, but they are not present for the great majority of the project and they do not act as a clerk of works.
6. The case of Murphy v Brentwood District Council [1990] was an appeal to the House of Lords. It established that a council is not liable for the costs of putting right defective building work resulting from its failure to ensure compliance with Building Regulations.

Key facts

7. Miss Q had an extension built on her house. She said the Council’s Building Control Officers advised her builders to dig one metre deep foundations. But when the Officers visited after the foundations had been dug and the concrete poured, they said the foundations had to be deeper because of nearby trees.
8. Miss Q said she suffered a financial loss because she had to hire machinery to remove the poured concrete and to make the foundations deeper. She also had to pay for additional concrete.
9. Miss Q would like the Council to compensate her for her additional costs. She said the additional costs were caused by the Building Control Officers’ failure to spot the nearby trees and to properly advise her and her builders about how deep the foundations should be.
10. The Council denied its Building Control Officers advised Miss Q or her builders to dig one metre deep foundations.

Analysis

11. We will not investigate this complaint.
12. The courts have established that councils are not liable for the cost of putting right defective building work when they fail to property inspect works to ensure compliance with Building Regulations. Because of this ruling, the Council would not be liable for the cost of any remedial works Miss Q had to do to the foundations of her house extension. This would be the case even if the Council was at fault in the way Miss Q alleges. We could not, therefore, ask the Council to offer Miss Q a payment. So we would not be able to achieve the financial remedy she is seeking.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Miss Q’s complaint. This is because we cannot achieve the outcome she would like.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman