Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to properly respond to his reports of breaches of building control, causing him to lose confidence in the system. We find no fault with the process the Council followed.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council failed to maintain proper oversight of compliance with building regulations relating to a new property he moved into. Mr X also complains about the way the Council responded to his reports the building has not been constructed in compliance with safety regulations after he moved in. Mr X says this caused him a sense of abandonment and left him with no confidence in the system.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)
5. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(1), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

6. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
7. We cannot usually investigate complaints unless we are satisfied the Council has had a chance to look into them first. This includes events that are linked to or ongoing from the complaint that has been brought to us.
8. As the Council issued its final response to Mr X’s complaint in August 2025, I have only investigated up to that point.
9. Any mention below to events that took place either before June 2025, when Mr X first raised concerns with the Council, or after August 2025, when the Council issued its final response to Mr X’s complaint, are for reference only.

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How I considered this complaint

10. I considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
11. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Building Control and Building Regulations

12. Councils have a very important role in ensuring buildings are safe for people to use. Their duty is to protect the public, rather than the interests of private individuals. They have extensive powers to protect the public, ranging from checking building works for compliance with building regulations, and requiring or carrying out emergency works to make buildings safe.
13. Most building work requires building regulation approval. Building regulations set standards for the design and construction of buildings and also ensure the health and safety of people in and about those buildings.
14. The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is the building control authority for higher-risk buildings in England. Building work cannot start until the BSR approves the building control approval application.
15. For other buildings there are two options for getting Building Regulations approval:
• From a local authority registered building inspector, or
• A registered building control approver (RBCA).
16. RBCAs are private bodies or individuals who may undertake building control functions. The RBCA and applicant must submit an "Initial Notice" to the Council Building Control service before work begins. Once the notice is accepted, the RBCA is responsible for ensuring building works comply with Regulations. We cannot investigate complaints about how they carry out their work.
17. RBCAs have no enforcement powers: these are retained by the Council’s Building Control service. However, these powers are limited whilst an RBCA’s function is in effect.

What happened

18. I have summarised below some key events leading to Mr X’s complaint. While I have considered everything submitted, this is not intended to be a detailed account of what took place.
19. An RBCA submitted an Initial Notice to the Council in relation to work that was due to take place on a development in its area. Once the work was completed, the RBCA submitted a final certificate for the building to the Council.
20. Mr X then moved into a flat within the building.
21. In June 2025 Mr X contacted the Council to raise concerns about possible defects with the building, including structural issues with the balcony, loose concrete dust, and drainage issues.
22. In July 2025, the Council acknowledged Mr X’s concerns but explained an RBCA was responsible for overseeing the work and said he should contact them with any complaints.
23. Mr X responded to explain he was aware an RBCA was responsible for overseeing the project but said his reports of defects related to the Council’s powers of enforcement.
24. The Council reiterated that an RBCA had taken up the building control functions so it did not have regulatory control of the project and said its usual advice would be to contact the developer with any concerns. However, it said it was considering what options it had to investigate Mr X’s concerns. The Council also said the management company of the building was willing to take remedial action to resolve the issues Mr X had reported. The Council asked Mr X to provide it with further images of the reported issues so it could consider these.
25. Mr X complained to the Council about the lack of action it had taken in response to his reports of a breach of building regulations.
26. The Council responded to Mr X’s complaint in August 2025. The Council explained Mr X could contact the BSR if he had any concerns about the actions of the RBCA. The Council explained it had looked at the images Mr X had provided and it would come to assess the issues further if Mr X contacted it to arrange a time to visit.
27. The Council has said Mr X did not contact it to arrange the offered inspection.
28. Mr X responded to the Council to explain he felt it had failed to act under the enforcement powers open to it.
29. The Council repeated its offer to carry out a visit to assess the issues Mr X had raised. It also recommended he contact his landlord directly about any concerns he had relating to issues such as water ingress.
30. Mr X then moved out of the flat.
31. In response to our enquiries, the Council explained it considered its duty to act where a building, structure or part of a building was in such a condition to be considered dangerous, but this was a high threshold which it felt was unlikely to be met in this case. The Council explained, while it did not agree there was evidence of structural issues, it asked the management company to provide the independent assessments for it to consider. The Council also explained that as Mr X did not contact it to arrange the offered visits and inspections, none were made and no breaches of legislation it enforced were identified

Analysis

32. Where an RBCA is appointed, they are responsible for issuing an initial notice at the start of a project, carrying out checks during construction and issuing a final certificate upon completion. The Council has no duty to inspect developments managed by an RBCA or oversight of the RBCA’s inspections.
33. As an RBCA was appointed to the project, I do not find the Council at fault for failing to oversee compliance with building regulations throughout the project.
34. However, the Council retains enforcement powers where it identifies a building is a dangerous structure. The Council’s powers are discretionary, so it does not need to act, but where defects are reported it needs to consider the evidence to make a decision on whether or not it is sufficiently serious to consider enforcement.
35. The Ombudsman is not the building control authority and cannot determine whether a breach of building control has occurred and, if so, what action the Council should take. Instead, we investigate how the Council considered any reported breaches, and whether it acted in accordance with the law, guidance and its own enforcement objectives.
36. If we consider the Council followed processes correctly, we cannot question whether its decisions were right or wrong, regardless of whether a complainant disagrees with it.
37. Mr X reported potential issues with the building to the Council in June 2025. In the first instance, the Council referred Mr X back to the RBCA as the body who had overseen the project. However, when Mr X explained the issue related to an enforcement matter in the interests of public safety, the Council agreed to consider the options open to it such as investigating if this could be considered a dangerous structure and its powers under the Housing Act.
38. The Council asked Mr X to provide further photographic evidence and satisfied itself the management company of the building was open to completing remedial work to resolve any potential issues. While the Council did not agree there were structural issues based on the evidence Mr X provided, it asked the management company to provide it with the independent assessment it had relied on to satisfy itself this was the case. I do not find fault with the action the Council took here.
39. The Council considered the evidence Mr X provided and offered to visit to carry out a further assessment, however Mr X did not arrange for this visit to take place before he moved out of the building. As the Council was not able to obtain evidence of enforceable breaches it took no further action, and I do not find it at fault here.

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Decision

40. I find no fault with the Council’s decision-making process.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman