Summary: We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint about the accuracy of the Council’s property searches. This is because there is no evidence of fault by the Council and we are unable to achieve the outcome of compensation sought by Mrs Y.

The complaint

1. Mrs Y complains the Council provided inaccurate information about a property prior to her purchasing it. She says this has caused difficulties with access to the property and seeks compensation for £30,000.
2. Mrs Y also complains that the Council delayed in responding to her enquiries and complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Mrs Y asked the Council to carry out searches of its land registry before she purchased a property. She then relied on the information provided. Later, a third party provided new information that contradicted the information provided by the Council.
8. I will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault. The Council shared the information it had on record at the time of Mrs X’s request and caveated its response by saying it was based on the information available at the time.
9. Further, I would be unable to achieve the outcome of compensation that Mrs Y seeks. The courts are better placed to consider this remedy.
10. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council and we could not achieve the outcome that she seeks.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman