Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the information the Council gave her about her not being able to buy an annual parking permit for her property, and about its visitor parking voucher scheme. An investigation into what she was told when she moved in would not achieve a worthwhile outcome. The advice given to Miss X by her housing officer is outside our powers and we cannot investigate it. It has been Miss X’s decision to use the Council’s visitor parking scheme and the cost to her does not stem from Council fault.

The complaint

1. Miss X has been a Council tenant for many years and moved to her current flat in 2021. The property has a Section 106 planning condition and traffic order attached to it. This means any tenant of the flat cannot apply for a residents’ annual parking permit. At the time Miss X moved there, she did not have a car but bought one in 2025. She complains the Council:
1. failed to tell her that she would not be able to apply for a residents’ annual parking permit before she moved there in 2021;
2. did not tell her about the permit restriction before she bought her car in 2025;
3. is charging for visitor parking vouchers to enable her to park her car;
4. has a loophole in its visitor parking system, which places no limit on the number of vouchers she can buy and use.
2. Miss X does not dispute the legality of the Section 106 restriction but says it is unfair that she cannot apply for a permit when others in the area can, when she supported the development and has been a long-term Council tenant. She says the visitor parking scheme loophole means she can buy weekly visitor permits, but these are many times more expensive than the annual one.

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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 impact 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 or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation; or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained.

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

4. We cannot investigate complaints about the management of housing let on a long lease by a council that is a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5B, schedule 5, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information from Miss X, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Miss X moved to her flat in 2021. She did not have a car then so it is more likely than not that she did not seek much or any information about the parking scheme at that time. If Miss X was not told about the restriction before she moved, we could not say this would have led to her choosing another property. As she had no need for a car parking permit then, and no plans to buy a car until her and her family’s circumstances changed much later, it is more likely than not that she would still have moved to her current flat with its parking permit restriction in place. It is unlikely we could now, given the time that has passed, make findings about what the Council told Miss X about the parking permit restriction, or what she asked about it. There is no worthwhile outcome an investigation by us of this part of the complaint would now achieve.
7. Miss X asked about parking permits for her flat in mid-2023. The advice given to her in 2023, before she bought a car in 2025, was from her housing officer, acting on behalf of the Council as her social landlord. We cannot investigate this part of the complaint. It is outside our powers to investigate complaints about actions of the Council in its role as Miss X’s landlord and the management of her property, so we cannot investigate this issue.
8. We understand Miss X is using the Council’s visitor permit scheme to keep her car on the estate. She says there is a loophole in the system which allows her to buy visitor permits after she has reached the supposed limit but they come at a much greater cost than an annual parking permit. It is not fault for the Council to charge for visitor parking vouchers. It may be fault that the Council has a system for visitor parking which allows a resident to use it to authorise parking their car on the estate. Although visitor vouchers are an expensive option, if the Council closed that loophole, it would mean Miss X would have no way of authorising her car to be parked at her property, which would not be to her benefit. For the reasons given above, we cannot determine that it is Council fault which has led to Miss X incurring the visitor parking voucher costs. It has been her choice to use them, to retain a car while living in a property which does not allow and has never allowed her to have an annual parking permit.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because:
• investigation into what she was told about parking permits in 2021 would not achieve a worthwhile outcome; and
• the housing officer advice to Miss X in 2023 is outside our powers and we cannot investigate it; and
• the costs to her of authorising her car at her property using visitor vouchers does not stem from Council fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman