East Hertfordshire District Council (21 011 994)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains of a lack of planning enforcement by the Council. We will not investigate this complaint because the matter is out of time and there is no evidence of fault.
The complaint
- Mr X complains of a lack of planning enforcement by the Council.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
- I considered the complainant’s comments on my draft decision.
My assessment
- Mr X says that the Council should enforce a legal agreement against a developer that he would be entitled to shares in a management company after he bought his house in 2018.
- Mr X could reasonably have made his complaint to this office within 12 months of his purchase of the house and so the matter is out of time.
- Further, the Council’s considered his argument but rejected planning enforcement as there was no planning harm caused by the developer’s refusal to grant a share to Mr X. I consider that this is a view reached on the merit of the case and, in the absence of fault, not a decision the Ombudsman could question.
Final decision
- I do not intend to investigate this complaint because the matter is out of time and there is no fault in the Council’s decision.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman