Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s advice about building control matters. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify us investigating.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council forced him to regularise unauthorised works completed on his property before he bought it in 2017. Mr X says the Council then advised him the unauthorised works were immune from enforcement action. Mr X believes the Council made him incur unnecessary costs and fees in regularising the works. He wants the Council to reimburse the costs he does not believe he needed to incur. He also wants the Council to take disciplinary action against the officer involved.

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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 or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (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 the complainant and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. When Mr X sought to sell his property last year, he discovered work done to it before he bought it did not have Building Regulation approval. He sought advice from the Council, who made inspections and recommended Mr X took steps to regularise the unauthorised works. The Council Officer involved also suggested Mr X sought independent legal advice.
5. Councils have an 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.
6. Most building work needs building regulation approval. Building regulations set out requirements and guidance that builders and building owners are required to follow and consider. The purpose of the regulations is to make sure buildings are safe for those that use them or live around them.
7. Councils can take enforcement action to require the owner to pull down or remove unauthorised or non-compliant work by issuing a section 36 notice under the Building Act 1984 up to 10 years after completion of the building work. There are no time limits on councils acting to seek prosecution of a building owner where unauthorised works pose a risk to safety under section 35 of the Building Act 1984.
8. Mr X believes the Council should not have advised him to undertake regularisation work when it knew the unauthorised works were immune from enforcement. Based on the evidence I have seen, the Council recommended regularisation to Mr X. This was because he wished to sell his property and an unauthorised works record with the Council may have prevented or hindered any sale. There appears no evidence to suggest the Council’s advice to Mr X was flawed given its duty to ensure all works in its area are compliant with building regulations.
9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify us getting involved.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman