Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council failing to take enforcement action against one of its tenants for a breach of planning control. There is not enough evidence of fault by the planning enforcement team, and we have no power to look at the actions of the Council in its role as a social housing provider.

The complaint

2. Mr X complains about the Council failing to take enforcement action against one of its tenants for erecting a building which is not in accordance with the associated planning permission.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
5. And we cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered:
• information provided by Mr X and the Council, which included their complaint correspondence.
• information about the planning applications, available on the Council’s website.
• the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. I appreciate Mr X is unhappy that his neighbour erected a building which is contrary to the approved plans.
8. But the Council’s planning enforcement team was entitled to invite the submission of a retrospective planning application and, when this was refused, it was correct to say that it could not serve a planning enforcement notice on itself as the landowner. So, there is not enough evidence of fault in the decisions or actions of the planning enforcement team to justify starting an investigation into this aspect of the complaint.
9. Having taken legal advice, the Council decided to instead approach the matter from a tenancy management perspective. With reference to paragraph 5 above, the Ombudsman has no power to consider how the Council’s housing department has handled the enforcement of the neighbour’s tenancy conditions.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the planning enforcement team, and we have no power to look at the actions of the Council in its role as a social housing provider.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman