Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s inspections of building work carried out to her property. This is because we cannot hold the Council responsible for issues with the work or achieve any worthwhile outcome for her.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains the Council inspected work and after carrying out basic tests decided it complied with the Building Regulations. The work is now complete but Mrs X has reported issues with the drainage system, which is now inaccessible for inspection. The Council has therefore refused to issue a completion certificate and Mrs X’s builder has declined to carry out remedial works. Mrs X wants the Council to accept some responsibility for the situation, carry out a proper inspection and contribute towards the cost of any remedial works.

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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 Mrs 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 under the Building Regulations, 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’. 
6. On request and when satisfied after taking 'all reasonable steps' that the Regulations have been met, the local authority (or any private ‘approved inspector’) must issue a completion certificate. But a completion certificate 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, building work complied with the Building Regulations.
7. The courts have decided that where a local authority issues a completion certificate for work which is later found not to comply with the Building Regulations, the council does not take on liability for the substandard work; this remains with the builder and those who commissioned the work.
8. The Council has not issued a completion certificate for the works in this case but Mrs X says it was satisfied during an inspection that they complied with the Building Regulations. Mrs X suggests the Council should have carried out further tests before giving this advice and considers it has some responsibility for the issue with the works that have been completed.
9. In the circumstances I must conclude that the principle of the courts’ decisions on liability applies here. I cannot therefore say that the Council bears responsibility for the allegedly faulty works carried out by Mrs X’s builder, even though the inspector considered the works compliant at the time of inspection. We cannot therefore say the Council must resolve the situation for Mrs X or contribute towards the costs of doing so.
10. Mrs X may wish to seek legal advice about making a claim against her builder and if she believes the Council should be held responsible she would need to argue the point at court. A claim against the Council would in effect allege negligence in the way it reached its initial view about the adequacy of the drainage system and this is a matter for the courts to consider rather than the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot hold the Council responsible for any issue with the works which have been carried out. We cannot achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mrs X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman