Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to investigate or put right damage to his property resulting from building work overseen by the Council several years ago. This is because the complaint is late and we could not hold the Council responsible for the damage. We could not therefore achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mr X.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has failed to take action against his neighbour for non-compliance with the Building Regulations. He is concerned his neighbour’s building work does not comply with drawings approved by the Council and that the work has damaged the party wall the neighbour’s property and his. He believes the Council is responsible and should take action.

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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)
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Building Regulations set standards for the design and construction of buildings to ensure the health and safety of people in and about those buildings. A property owner may submit plans for building work to their local council’s building control department for a view on whether it complies with the Building Regulations, but there is no requirement to ensure compliance with these plans, as such. The question is whether the work complies with the Building Regulations and the requirements of the Regulations may be met in many different ways.
8. 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’. 
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. Mr X claims there is damage to the party wall as a result of the building work commissioned by his neighbour and he considers the Council responsible as it has failed to properly investigate this or put it right. But the information I have seen shows Mr X has known about this for more than 12 months and any complaint about the Council’s actions is therefore late.
12. Further, any damage is not a matter for the Council to investigate or put right; it is a private civil matter between Mr X and his neighbour, as the Council has explained to him on several occasions. If Mr X believes the Council is wrong on this point, and that it should be responsible for putting right the damage, he may wish to seek legal advice. Only the courts can make a definitive determination on liability and decide whether to disapply the established legal principles set out above. We could not do this or, therefore, achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mr X by investigating his complaint further.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint is late and we could not achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mr X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman