Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint that his property has been damaged by Council-owned trees. This is because it is reasonable for Mr B to pursue his compensation claim by taking the Council to court.

The complaint

1. Mr B says his property has been damaged due to the Council’s failure to maintain trees which it is responsible for. Mr B says the Council delayed taking action which has resulted in him having to spend £18,000 repairing the roof of his property. Mr B also says the Council has not communicated with him properly and has wrongly refused his compensation claim for the damage to his property. Mr B would like the Council to take a range of actions including full payment of the compensation he has claimed.

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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. The Act 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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr B.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. We do not normally investigate complaints about damage to property. This is because in effect such complaints are that an organisation has been negligent. Our role is to consider complaints of administrative fault. Negligence claims are best decided by an organisation’s insurers, and if needed, the courts.
7. Mr B has received the Council’s insurer’s decision on his compensation claim. Mr B may now pursue his claim by taking the Council to court. I find it is reasonable and proportionate to Mr B’s claimed losses for Mr B to do this.
8. Only the courts can decide if the Council was negligent, and if so, make an order for damages. We cannot recommend actions or payments that ‘punish’ an organisation.
9. So, we will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the damage to his property.
10. Because we are not investigating the substantive matter, an investigation solely into the Council’s handling of Mr B’s correspondence would not be a good use of our limited resources or achieve a meaningful outcome for Mr B.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because it is reasonable for him to take the Council to court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman