Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because his complaint about the Council’s decision to serve him with a Section 215 Notice is late, and it was reasonable for Mr X to use the appeal rights available to him. There is no personal injustice to Mr X from the Council’s decision not to take enforcement action against a recent development.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council served him with a Section 215 notice in 2015 due to the condition of a property he owned. The property was subsequently demolished. Mr X disagrees with the Council’s actions, and says it has not taken enforcement action against a recent development that does not have planning permission.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
5. 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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered Mr X’s complaint to the Ombudsman and the information he provided. I also gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on a draft statement before reaching a final decision on his complaint.

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What I found

7. Under the Town and Country Planning Act, councils can serve a Section 215 notice on the owner of a site or property if they consider it to be detrimental to amenity. A Section 215 notice requires the owner of a property to carry out improvement works to the building and / or land. There is a limited time period to either comply with or appeal the notice. Appeals are dealt with by the Magistrates’ Court. Failure to comply with the notice can result in the Council taking direct action, where they carry out the works themselves, and pass the costs of the work on to the owner of the site or property.
8. Mr X says the Council issued him with a Section 215 notice in 2015. The Council was not happy with the work carried out and the property was subsequently demolished. Mr X is unhappy the Council has not taken enforcement action over a recent development which he says does not have planning permission.
9. Mr X’s complaint about what happened in 2015 is late. The Ombudsman normally expects people to complain to us within twelve months of them becoming aware of a problem. We look at each complaint individually, and on its merits, considering the circumstances of each case. But we do not exercise discretion to accept a late complaint unless there are clear and compelling reasons to do so. I do not consider that to be the case here. I see no reason Mr X could not have complained much earlier, and so the exception at paragraph 3 applies to his complaint.
10. But even if Mr X’s complaint was not late, an investigation would not be appropriate. This is because if Mr X disagreed with the Section 215 notice he could have appealed to the Magistrates’ Court. I see no reason he could not have done this.
11. Mr X clearly feels strongly about the Council’s recent decision not to take enforcement action over a property he says does not have planning permission. But regardless of whether there is any fault in the Council’s recent decision, it has no direct impact on Mr X. There is no link between recent events and what happened in 2015. There is no injustice to Mr X from the Council’s decision and an investigation by the Ombudsman is not therefore appropriate.

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Final decision

12. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because the complaint is late, and it was reasonable for Mr X to use the appeal rights available to him. There is no injustice to Mr X from recent events.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman