Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council wrongly took court action against him for breaches of planning control. This is because we cannot investigate the start of court action or what happened at court.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about planning enforcement action taken against him and his wife by the Council. This led to a successful prosecution and confiscation of their assets, including the eventual sale of their home. Mr X says the Council has allowed the new owner of his property to breach planning rules to an even greater extent and believes this is unfair. He wants the Council to give him back his home.

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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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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Final decision

6. We cannot investigate this complaint. This is because the injustice Mr X claims stems from the court action taken by the Council against Mr X and his wife and such matters are barred from investigation as set out at Paragraph 4.
7. We will not separately investigate the Council’s handling of planning matters relating to the new owners of the property as the issue does not affect him. Mr X believes the treatment he received from the Council was unfair but this is not something we can consider further as set out above. We also cannot achieve the outcome Mr X wants. If Mr X wishes to challenge his conviction and the confiscation of his assets he may wish to seek legal advice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman