Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint that the Council failed to identify defective building work which did not meet the building regulations. This is because an investigation would not achieve a meaningful outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mr B, complains the Council wrongly issued a building regulations completion certificate for an extension to his property. Mr B says he has recently become aware that the building work was unsafe and the Council was wrong to issue the completion certificate. Mr B would like the Council to pay him compensation for the costs he has paid putting right the defective building work.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr B.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint.
6. The building work took place in 1997. The Council says it no longer has any records of the building control inspections for the build. Because the extension was built so many years ago, it is highly unlikely an investigation would allow us to make sound findings on whether the Council was at fault.
7. But in any case, the primary responsibility for building work and compliance with the building regulations rests with building owners and builders.
8. The courts have held that local authorities are not responsible for the costs of putting right defective building work which does not meet the building regulations.
9. This means even if an investigation found the Council was at fault, we would not ask the Council to make a payment which the courts have decided local authorities are not required to pay. So, an investigation would not be a good use of our limited resources or achieve a meaningful outcome for Mr B.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because an investigation would not achieve a meaningful outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman