Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council failed to identify issues with his building work and has refused to reimburse him for putting them right. This is because we cannot hold the Council responsible for the issues or achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mr X.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council failed to carry out proper checks on his building work to ensure it complied with the Building Regulations and misled him about the possibility it would resolve the issues he had with it. He says that as a result he has had to pay nearly £5,000 for remedial work, which he believes the Council should reimburse him for. He would also like compensation for stress and inconvenience.

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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 do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

4. Building Regulations set standards for the design and construction of buildings to ensure the health and safety of people in and about those buildings.
5. When carrying out their functions, local authorities may visit at various stages but the number and timings of any inspections vary by local authority and type of development. Local authorities are not present for the great majority of the project and do not act as a ‘clerk of works’. On request and when satisfied after taking 'all reasonable steps' that the Regulations have been met, they must issue a completion certificate.
6. A completion certificate for building work is not a guarantee that all works are completed to the necessary standard. All the certificate can and does state is that as far as the Council could tell at the time, based on the professional judgement of the officer who inspected it, the building work complied with the Building Regulations. This is not a guarantee that all works have been done to the required standard.
7. Where a local authority issues a completion certificate for work which is later found not to comply with the Building Regulations, the courts have decided the local authority does not take on liability for the substandard work; this remains with the builder and those who commissioned the work. We cannot therefore hold the Council responsible for the defect in Mr X's case or say it must reimburse him for the cost of putting it right.
8. Mr X is also unhappy with the Council’s advice for resolving the issue with the building work but any injustice from this issue is not significant enough to warrant investigation. The Council has offered Mr X £100 for its delay in providing him with the correct advice and further investigation is unlikely to achieve anything more for him.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot hold the Council responsible for the issues with Mr X’s building work and it is therefore unlikely we could achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mr X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman