Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s issue of a completion certificate for works carried out on a property she has now decided not to buy. This is because Ms X’s claimed injustice is not the result of any fault by the Council and we cannot therefore achieve the outcome she wants.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, complains the Council wrongly issued a completion certificate for substandard work carried out many years ago. She says this resulted in financial loss of £420.

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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.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I reviewed Ms X’s complaint and the Council’s responses. I shared my draft decision with Ms X and considered her comments.

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What I found

4. Ms X agreed to purchase a property in 2019. She had a survey carried out which highlighted numerous issues with work carried out by a former owner and this resulted in her pulling out of the sale. The Council issued a completion certificate for the works retrospectively and Ms X believes the Council was wrong to do this. She says it has resulted in a loss of £420 for the survey.
5. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. A completion certificate is not a guarantee that all works have been done to the required standard. All the certificate can and does state is that, as far as the Council could tell at the time, building work complied with the Building Regulations.
6. The Council seems to confirm it issued a completion certificate but whether or not it was right to do this, its actions did not directly cause the injustice Ms X claims. Ms X had a survey carried out on the property to satisfy herself about its condition and this is something any prudent buyer should do. The survey raised concerns about the standard of work carried out to the property and Ms X decided on this basis not to proceed with her purchase. This is the purpose of a survey and its cost only appears wasted as a result of the decision not to proceed. The Council is not responsible for the substandard work and we could not recommend it reimburses Ms X for the cost of the survey.

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Final decision

7. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council’s actions did not cause the injustice Ms X claims and we cannot therefore achieve the outcome she wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman