Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the obligations contained within a legal agreement for a development. It is reasonable to expect the complainant to have contacted us sooner, and we would be unlikely to find fault by the Council has directly caused him a significant injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about a legal agreement which applies to a development where he purchased a property. The agreement requires owners to make payments, via a management company, towards the management and maintenance of a public open space within the development. Mr X says this is unfair, and thinks it is contrary to the Equality Act, as he already pays Council Tax.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We can 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. So, we do not start an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not directly caused injustice to the person who complained.

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

4. And we cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered:
• information provided by Mr X, which included his complaint correspondence with the Council.
• information about the legal agreement, and the associated planning application, on the Council’s planning website.
• the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The 12-month time restriction detailed in paragraph 4 above appears to apply to Mr X’s complaint. The legal agreement was completed in 2009, and I understand Mr X purchased his property in 2010, yet he did not contact the Ombudsman until 2024. Whilst I acknowledge Mr X’s current medical situation, I am not persuaded that he was prevented from raising his concerns about the legal agreement in the intervening years.
7. And even if this time restriction did not apply, there is not enough evidence to conclude that any fault by the Council has directly caused Mr X a significant injustice. In reaching this view, I am mindful that:

• it is fairly common for obligations like this to be included in legal agreements for new residential developments, and Mr X has not identified a protected characteristic under the Equality Act which he feels has been discriminated against.
• in English law, there is a principle of ‘caveat emptor’ which translates as “let the buyer beware.” The rule places the responsibility on the buyer to conduct all necessary checks before deciding to proceed with a purchase. The legal agreement would have been available to Mr X, or his conveyancers, before he decided to purchase his property.
• the Council has explained which aspects of the development the owners can and cannot be held liable for under the terms of the legal agreement.
• the Council has no control over the management company or the charges it imposes on homeowners within the development.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect him to have contacted us sooner, and we would be unlikely to find fault by the Council has directly caused him a significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman