Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a planning condition imposed by the Council. This is because it was reasonable for Mr B to have known about this condition before purchasing his property. Also, Mr B can put in a planning application to vary or remove this condition, and if needed appeal to the planning inspector.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mr B, complains that the Council wrongly imposed a planning condition which removes permitted development rights for a new property he purchased. Mr B would like the Council to reinstate these permitted development rights at no cost to him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact 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 any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a government minister. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(b))
4. The Planning Inspector acts on behalf of the responsible Government minister. The Planning Inspector considers appeals about:

• delay – usually over eight weeks – by an authority in deciding an application for planning permission
• a decision to refuse planning permission
• conditions placed on planning permission
• a planning enforcement notice.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr B and the complaint correspondence between Mr B and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint. This is for two reasons.
8. First, we would expect a prospective purchaser of a property to undertake all checks and searches prior to completion. Mr B should have been aware of the full details of planning permission for the site - including the planning condition restricting permitted development rights - when he purchased the property. If Mr B had concerns about this condition, he could have chosen not to purchase the property or tried to negotiate a lower purchase price to reflect his concerns. The alleged fault by the Council would not have caused Mr B an injustice if he had chosen not to purchase the property.
9. Second, Mr B may put in a planning application to the Council to ask for this condition to be varied or removed. If the Council refuses this application, Mr B would have a right of appeal to the planning inspector. I find it is reasonable for Mr B to use this process. The planning inspector is independent and has the power to overturn the Council’s decision if it is not in Mr B’s favour.

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Final decision

10. For the above reasons, we will not investigate this complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman