Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the actions of the Council’s building control officers. This is because it is unlikely the Ombudsman could add to the Council’s response or achieve the outcome the complainant wants.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, has complained about the actions of the Council’s building control officers. The Council issued a completion certificate for Mr X’s property. However, he has since discovered that the works are unsafe and do not comply with building regulations. Mr X says the matter has had significant financial implications and affected his health.

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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 could add to any previous investigation by the Council, 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 have considered Mr X’s complaint and the Council’s responses. I invited Mr X to comment on a draft of this decision and have considered his comments in response.

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What I found

4. Most building work will require building regulation approval. The regulations will set the standards for design, construction and ensure the health and safety of the people living in or around the building.
5. The Council will normally visit the site at various stages of the build. But councils do not act as a clerk of works and the responsibility for compliance with the regulations rests with the building owners and builders. The Council’s role is to maintain the building standards for the public in general rather than protect the private interests of an individual.

What happened

6. In March 2017, Mr X applied for building regulation approval for a loft and garage conversion he planned for his property. The application was accepted and building control officers from the Council visited the property on three occasions during construction and issued a completion certificate in April 2019. Mr X has since discovered that the building works do not comply with building regulations and are unsafe. He has provided evidence to the Council in this regard. He says the Council has failed to take any action and failed to provide evidence to show the building works are compliant with regulations. Mr X also complains the Council based its decision to issue the completion certificate on false information from his builders.
7. Mr X complains he has been unable to rent the property as he had planned and lost income as a result. He also says he has been caused considerable stress by the matter.

Assessment

8. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because it is unlikely he could add to the Council’s response or achieve the outcome Mr X wants.
9. The Council says it has no reason to believe the building works are not compliant with regulations or that the completion certificate should not have been issued. However, it has offered to visit Mr X’s property to carry out a further inspection. It has also agreed to cover the cost to remove and restore the necessary plaster work and to pay for Mr X’s structural engineer to attend. It is unlikely an investigation by the Ombudsman could add to this response or achieve a different outcome for Mr X.
10. I understand Mr X says the Council based its decision to issue the completion certificate on false information from his builders and he has provided evidence to show the works are unsafe. He says he has incurred significant costs and lost income as a result. But I could not say the Council should reimburse these costs. Primary responsibility for the building works rests with those that commission it and those that carry it out and the courts have held that councils are not liable for pure economic loss arising from a dispute about the quality of works. The Ombudsman takes the same view as the courts and we will not usually investigate complaints where the main issue is one of pure economic loss.

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Final decision

11. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because he could not add to the Council’s response and it is unlikely an investigation could achieve the outcome Mr X wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman