Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council failed to resolve his concerns about his flat’s unique property reference number and street address. This is because it was Mr X’s landlord’s responsibility to deal with these matters and the injustice Mr X claims is the result of their failure to do so, rather than any fault by the Council. If Mr X believes he has been incorrectly billed by the utility companies he should take this up with them directly.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council mismanaged the assignment of a unique property reference number (UPRN) and street addres for his flat. He says his flat was unlawfully developed and the Council failed to investigate the origin of the UPRN and provided misleading responses. He also complains it refused to properly investigate whether there was a breach of planning control concerning his flat.
2. Mr X says that as a result he unknowingly lived in an illegally constructed flat which lacked the required safety certificates. He also says that he was forced to pay his landlord’s utility bills and suffered significant stress and financial loss and was forced to move.

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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 effect 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 the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X first contacted the Council about his flat in November 2023 as he had concerns about its address. He contacted the Council again in January 2024 and remained in discussion with it about the matter until April 2024, when he terminated his lease.
6. The Council provided the UPRN for the flat on 8 February 2024 and maintained its position throughout its further communications with Mr X, including his later complaints which ended with the Council’s final response dated 27 August 2024.
7. Mr X however continued to research the matter and raised concerns about the accuracy of the UPRN and its relationship to his address. The Council’s responses explained that it was Mr X's landlord’s responsibility to apply to register the property but that he had not done this. Mr X said he had asked the managing agent to rectify the issue but the landlord refused.
8. The Council’s Street Numbering team applied to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to change the address and it approved the application, although there remains some confusion about what the address should be. Mr X says this confusion, along with the way the flat has been constructed, led to issues obtaining accurate utility bills and in registering for services which use his address.
9. I appreciate Mr X has experienced difficulties as a result of the confusion over his address but I cannot say this was the result of fault by the Council. This is because Mr X’s landlord is responsible for construction of the flat and it was their responsibility to register it with the Council. They did not do this and the issues Mr X has experienced all stem from this failure. The Council has been consistent in its responses to Mr X regarding the UPRN and has clearly tried to help him resolve the problems with his address with the VOA in a timely manner, and Mr X has now left the property.
10. If Mr X believes he has been wrongly billed by the utility companies then he should take this up with the companies itself. It is not the Council’s role to challenge Mr X’s bills or to ensure they have billed Mr X correctly.
11. Mr X is concerned about the lawfulness and safety of the flat but this is no longer his concern. We will not therefore investigate the Council’s handling of his reports of possible breaches of planning control as the issue did not cause him significant injustice.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the injustice Mr X claims stems primarily from the action or inaction of his landlord, rather than any fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman