Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to deal with a structure he considers dangerous. The Council’s decision not to take formal action is a matter of professional judgement and it is unlikely we would find fault in the way it was reached.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council has failed to take action to deal with his neighbour’s dangerous structure. He is concerned the structure will collapse and injure people in his garden and also believes it may impact on the value of his property.

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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)

3. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I reviewed Mr X’s complaint and the Council’s response. I shared my draft decision with Mr X and invited his comments.

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What I found

5. Mr X is concerned about a structure on the boundary of his and his neighbour’s property. He believes the Council has failed to properly monitor his neighbour’s actions and that the structure is dangerous. The Council has sent surveyors to assess the structure and does not consider it dangerous. It has therefore declined to take action against Mr X’s neighbour to make it safe.
6. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. Mr X refers to party wall issues and the Council has explained to him that any concerns he has in relation to the Party Wall Act 1996 are a private civil matter between him and his neighbour. It has looked into Mr X’s concerns and used its judgement to decide not to pursue the matter further at this time but it has also suggested it could take a different view in the future, should the structure deteriorate further. The Ombudsman cannot question the merits of the Council’s decision on this point and I have seen nothing to suggest its decision was not reached properly.

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Final decision

7. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely we could say the Council’s decision not to take action amounted to fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman