Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint that the Council wrongly approved work which does not meet the building regulations. This is because an investigation would not achieve a meaningful outcome for Mr B.

The complaint

1. Mr B complains that in 2019 the Council wrongly gave building control approval for non-compliant building work to the roof of his property. Mr B would like the Council to pay him compensation for the required repair 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 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 B.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. We will not investigate this complaint.
6. Several years have passed since the events complained about. So, it is unlikely we could make sound findings about whether there was fault by the Council.
7. But in any case, the primary responsibility for building work and compliance with the building regulations rests with building owners and builders. 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.
8. 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.
9. So, an investigation would not be a good use of our limited resources or achieve a meaningful outcome for Mr B.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because an investigation would not achieve a meaningful outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman