Isle of Wight Council (21 008 314)
Category : Planning > Building control
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 17 Oct 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council failing to follow Building Regulations legislation. This is because it is a late complaint and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to accept it now.
The complaint
- Mr X says the Council failed to enforce Building Regulations on flats where he is a leaseholder. Mr X says he has suffered financial losses due to fault by the Council.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
- The complainant has had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I have taken into account observations made before issuing this final decision.
My assessment
- The Council wrote to Mr X in February 2020 with its final response to his complaint. It said the freeholder and long leaseholders were ultimately responsible for carrying out repair and maintenance of the building. It said he was able to take legal action against the freeholder for any breach of the lease.
- Mr X did not complain to the Ombudsman until August 2021. Therefore this is a late complaint. We have discretion to set aside this restriction where we decide there are good reasons. In this case we have decided not to exercise discretion because it is reasonable to expect Mr X to have complained to us sooner if he was unhappy with the Council’s response. Mr X has not provided any good reasons why he did not complain to us within 12 months of knowing about the issue.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This it is a late complaint and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to accept it now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman