Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s initial quote for its building control service. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council or to show its actions caused the injustice Mr X claims. If Mr X believes the Council is guilty of fraud or negligence, both of which are legal issues, it would be reasonable for him to take the matter to court.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council acted fraudulently or negligently by trying to overcharge him for its building control service. He says this delayed his application and resulted in additional cost for his building work due to changes in the Building Regulations.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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Background

5. Mr X applied to the Council for building control approval for his building work on 18 May 2022. The work consisted of two elements so in order to cover the possibility of these works being carried out at different times and therefore requiring separate visits to inspect, the Council issued Mr X a quote for £1,530.84 on 24 May 2022.
6. Mr X responded to the Council’s quote on 15 June 2022 to query how it had reached the figure quoted. He emailed again on 17 June 2022 and explained the work would be carried out at the same time so the Council would not need to carry out separate visits to inspect it. The Council provided a revised quote on 21 June 2022 and Mr X accepted the quote and paid the fee on 5 July 2022.
7. The government brought in changes to the Building Regulations with effect from 15 June 2022. This meant that any works which started on or after 15 June 2022 needed to comply with the revised Regulations. In Mr X’s case this meant that he needed to make changes to the level of insulation originally proposed. Mr X estimates this cost him an additional £5,000 on top of the cost of his building work and he wants the Council to pay for this.

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My assessment

8. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council or to show the injustice Mr X claims is the result of the Council’s actions, whether fault or not. We would not therefore recommend it reimburses Mr X’s additional costs.
9. The Council provided a quote based on the information Mr X supplied in Mr X’s application form within six days; it did this based on its understanding of the work involved and we would not say the quote amounted to fault.
10. The Council then revised the quote within four days of Mr X’s clarification regarding the building work. But it took Mr X 21 days to query the initial quote and a further 14 days to accept the revised quote and pay the fee to validate his application. He may also have made his initial application sooner. We could not therefore say the additional cost is entirely or directly the result of the Council’s actions.
11. Mr X believes the Council is responsible for the additional cost as a result of fraud or negligence in its original quote. But fraud and negligence are legal issues and if he wishes to make a claim for either of these it would be reasonable for him to take the matter to court.
12. Mr X is also unhappy with the way the Council dealt with his complaint. But it is not a good use of public resources to look at the Council’s complaints handling if we are not going to look at the substantive issue complained about. We will not therefore investigate this issue separately.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council or to show its actions caused the injustice Mr X claims. If Mr X believes the Council acted fraudulently or negligently it would be reasonable for him to make a claim against it at court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman