Summary: Mr X complained about the way the Council handled planning and enforcement matters in 2013 when converting a listed building into flats, one of which he now owns. Mr X said a neighbour’s decking encroaches into his garden and the external storage space he owns has utility meters in it. Mr X said this caused stress, and tension with his neighbour. We have discontinued our investigation into this complaint because either we cannot achieve a meaningful outcome given the passage of time since the events, or the matters are outside our jurisdiction.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr X, complained about the way the Council handled planning and enforcement matters in 2013 when converting a listed building into flats, one of which he now owns. Mr X said his lease sets out the curtilage of his garden and that he owns an external storage space. He complained that another tenant’s decking encroaches into his garden and the store has utility meters in it.
2. Mr X said this caused stress, and tension with his neighbour.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the information and documents provided by Mr X and the Council. I spoke to Mr X about his complaint. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on an earlier draft of this statement. I considered all comments received before I reached a final decision.

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What I found

What happened

7. In 2013, the Council converted a listed building into flats. Mr X bought one of the flats in 2020.
8. In 2021, Mr X complained to the Council about issues with the flat that he felt were in breach of the 2013 planning permission. He also complained that another tenant had built decking which encroached onto his garden, and that the outside store which he owned had utility meters in it.
9. Mr X wanted the Council to take planning enforcement action about the building issues, move the meters, and remove the neighbour’s decking from his area of the garden.

Findings

Historic planning enforcement

10. The Council converted the building ten years ago. We would expect historic planning enforcement issues to be picked up as part of the property purchase process when Mr X bought the flat.
11. Also, we cannot achieve a meaningful outcome from investigating what the Council did or did not do ten years ago.
12. As I set out above, the Ombudsman can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. For the reasons given above, I have decided to exercise the Ombudsman’s discretion not to investigate this part of Mr X’s complaint.

Curtilage encroachment

13. The location of the neighbour’s decking is a civil dispute between leaseholders. It does not relate to the administrative function of the Council. The correct course of action here is for Mr X to seek a remedy through the civil courts.
14. As I have said above, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. In this case, I do not consider it unreasonable to expect Mr X to go to court.
15. For this reason, I have not investigated this part of Mr X’s complaint.

Location of utility meters

16. This issue relates to Mr X’s lease. Mr X may have the right to complain to the leaseholder valuation tribunal, but it is not an issue we can consider because it is outside our jurisdiction.

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Final decision

17. I have discontinued my investigation into this complaint. This is because the matters complained of are either outside our jurisdiction or we cannot achieve a meaningful outcome, given the passage of time since the events.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman