Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the way the Council dealt with his building control concerns about his neighbour’s home. We have not seen enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council:
• Failed to investigate his concerns about building safety concerns.
• Failed to enforce Building Regulations.
• Failed to respond to reports of dangerous or illegal flue/sewage installations.
• Failed to act on possible trespass/encroachment.
• Failed to engage properly with Party Wall matters impacting his home; and
• Failed to investigate his concerns of the build being different to planning drawings.

Mr X also complains about the way the Council dealt with his complaint.

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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 Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

Building Control and Building Regulations

5. Councils have a role in ensuring buildings are safe for people to use. Their duty is to protect the general 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 requires building regulation approval. Building regulations set standards for the design and construction of buildings and ensure the health and safety of people in and about those buildings.
7. 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.
8. 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).

What happened

9. In response to Mr X’s concerns the Council confirmed:
• A Gas Safe registered engineer has inspected and signed off the new boiler and flue installation; and the Council was awaiting documentation.
• Officers inspected the drains. The Council is satisfied the works appear to be in line with the approved design, and no defects or non-compliances were observed.
• The boundary location is a civil matter between Mr X and his neighbour.
• If Mr X believes the neighbour’s extension is fundamentally different from the approved plans, he can report this to planning enforcement for formal consideration.
10. The Council does not act as a clerk of works or a site manager and the responsibility for compliance with the regulations rests with the building owners and builders. The Council’s role is to uphold the building standards for the public in general rather than protect the private interests of an individual. In this case it has confirmed it has inspected the drainage on the site and is satisfied it is in line with the approved design.
11. I understand Mr X is not satisfied with the Council’s actions. However, we have not seen enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify an investigation. Party wall matters and boundary issues are civil matters between Mr X and his neighbours and are not for the Council to resolve. Also, concerns about breaches of planning control should be directed to the Council’s planning enforcement team for consideration.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we have not seen enough evidence of fault in the way the Council dealt with reports of breaches building control regulations.
13. Boundary issues and party wall matters are civil issues between Mr X and his neighbour; and
14. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are not dealing with the substantive issue.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman