Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about planning enforcement action the Council took. This is mainly because it is reasonable for Mrs X to take court action.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council acted wrongly when it demolished part of her property and invoiced her for nearly £30,000 for the works. Mrs X says this caused her distress, anxiety and financial uncertainty.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
3. 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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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mrs X says the Council wrongly entered her property and carried out demolition work in default after a planning enforcement process she disagrees with, and it charged her costs for the work she considers excessive.
7. The Council explained to Mrs X it carried out work after the conclusion of a court process which had already addressed the original enforcement action. It acted because Mrs X had failed to comply with the resulting orders to carry out work herself by the compliance date.
8. The Council has explained why the cost of work might seem more than Mrs X thinks it would have cost her, but any dispute she has is a matter for the courts to decide, not the Ombudsman. It was open to Mrs X to comply with the enforcement order so she would only incur the level of cost she considered necessary.
9. Mrs X says the extent of work the Council's contactors carried out exceeded what the enforcement orders required. It would be reasonable for Mrs X to apply to court if she considers the Council has breached the terms of the court order.  
10. Mrs X also complains about the way the Council handled her complaint about the enforcement action. We do not investigate councils’ complaint-handling in isolation where we are not investigating the underlying issues giving rise to the complaint. It is not a good use of our resources to do so.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect Mrs X to use her right to take court action about the demolition. It would be disproportionate to investigate the Council’s complaint-handling in isolation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman