Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her reports of encroachment by her neighbour onto her property. This is because encroachment is a private civil matter between Mrs X and her neighbour and it is therefore unlikely we could achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mrs X by investigating the Council’s handling of Mrs X’s concerns.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains the Council failed to properly investigate or take action against her neighbour for development which encroaches onto her property.

Back to top

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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

5. Mrs X says her neighbour’s development encroaches onto her property; she commissioned a surveyor’s report which confirms the encroachment and is unhappy the Council has failed to act on it.
6. The Council carried out its own investigation from a planning enforcement perspective but decided not to pursue the issue any further as the development had been built in accordance with the approved plans. It also informed Mrs X that any encroachment was minor and a private civil matter between Mrs X and her neighbour anyway.
7. Mrs X disagrees with the Council’s view and believes it should take action against her neighbour as she says she cannot afford to. She says she wants us to review her surveyor’s report and investigate the Council’s handling of the matter.
8. It is not our role to decide if Mrs X’s neighbour has encroached onto her property; this is a matter for the courts. The planning process is not designed to deal with boundary disputes or to resolve issues of encroachment which are, as the Council has explained to Mrs X on several occasions, a private civil matter.
9. If therefore Mrs X wishes to pursue the matter further she may wish to seek legal advice about making a claim against her neighbour. She could also approach her home insurance company to see if she may have cover for this. But we could not achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mrs X as the Council has reached a decision it was entitled to reach and it is not for us to adjudicate between its findings and those set out in Mrs X’s surveyor’s report.
10. It is also not the Council’s actions which caused the injustice Mrs X claims, as this stems instead from the actions of her neighbour and their builder.
11. Mrs X is also unhappy with the way the Council dealt with her complaint. But it is not a good use of public resources to look at the Council’s complaints handling if we are not going to look at the substantive issue complained about. We will not therefore investigate this issue separately.

Back to top

Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely we could achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mrs X.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman