Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council declining to notify Mr X’s neighbour that their property was a Grade 2 Listed Building. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council failed to notify his neighbour that part of their property was a Grade 2 Listed Building. Mr X says that this is preventing him from selling his home.

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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 or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is responsible for deciding which buildings should be listed. They also decide whether a building should be removed from the List of whether a List entry can be amended.
6. The Council is not responsible for notifying building owners of any listing. The only time this may be relevant is if a building or landowner wishes to carry out work to a Listed Building in which case Listed Building Consent may be required. Therefore there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman