Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council harassing the complainant to carry out an inspection of his loft. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council, and an investigation is unlikely to add anything further.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council’s building control department has wrongly accused him of undertaking a loft conversion and is harassing him to gain entry to inspect it.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We can investigate 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. So, we do not start an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered:
• information provided by Mr X and the Council, which included copies of the Council’s complaint responses and letters sent to Mr X by building control.
• The ‘Local Authority Building Control: Enforcement Policy’.
• the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. For the following reasons, I find there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify starting an investigation.
5. I appreciate Mr X says he initially invited the building control officer to come and look at the loft. But the officer’s recollection of events is different; he says Mr X has never offered to have the loft inspected, and has always insisted the Council pursue a legal route to gain access. In the absence of any independent evidence, I cannot say, on the balance of probabilities, what was said during these conversations. So, I cannot conclude the Council acted with fault.
6. And whilst the Council initially closed the case, based on the limited information available at that time, it was entitled to reassess its position when further information subsequently became available. In that regard, it is entitled to use its powers to obtain a warrant to access the loft.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault, and an investigation is unlikely to uncover anything further.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman