Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to remove historic restrictive covenants affecting the complainant’s property. We cannot require the Council to speed up this matter and therefore cannot achieve the outcome the complainant is seeking.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council has failed to remove historic restrictive covenants affecting her commercial property as agreed.
2. She says she cannot market the property for sale because of the covenants and has lost two buyers because of the Council’s lack of action.
3. Mrs X wants the Council to remove the covenants as agreed.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Mrs X owns a commercial unit. She says that after more than three years of negotiating to update the terms of some covenants on the land, the Council continues to refuse to provide a date to complete the agreement. She says the Council agreed to update the covenants and the price for this in 2023.

8. The Council confirms it has agreed to remove the historic restrictive covenants. However, it says releases of covenants is not one of its statutory functions. It says it must prioritise its legal and contractual obligations, and because of a national shortage of qualified surveyors, it cannot confirm when it will complete the work on the covenants.
9. The Council has explained it will deal with case but cannot give a time because of competing pressures on its resources. The Ombudsman cannot require the Council to remove the covenants within a specific time frame and it is for Mrs X to seek her own legal advice on this matter.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we cannot achieve the outcome Mrs X is seeking.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman