Summary: We will not investigate Mr C’s complaint about the Council issuing a building regulations completion certificate for defective building work. This is because an investigation would not achieve a meaningful outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr C complains the Council wrongly issued a building regulations completion certificate for defective building work undertaken by the previous owner of his property almost 20 years ago. Mr C says it will cost him over £2,000 to put this right and the Council has wrongly not accepted any responsibility for what happened. Mr C would like the Council to accept it was at fault and pay his costs putting right the defective work.

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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 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, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(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 C.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. We will not investigate this complaint.
6. The primary responsibility for building work and compliance with the building regulations rests with building owners and builders. Council officers will normally visit at various stages but will not be present for the great majority of the building project and do not act as a site manager or ‘clerk of works’.
7. The council will issue a completion certificate when satisfied, after taking all reasonable steps, that the requirements of the building regulations have been met. But, a completion certificate is not a guarantee that all works have been done to the required standard. 
8. Significantly, 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.
10. So, an investigation would not be a good use of our limited resources or achieve a meaningful outcome for Mr C.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr C’s complaint because an investigation would not achieve a meaningful outcome for Mr C.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman