Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s enforcement action. This is because there is no evidence of fault in the Council’s actions. The matter between a private landlord and tenant is outside our jurisdiction.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council has wrongly placed abandoned vehicle notices on her car and threatened to remove it from the car park of the retirement village where she lives.

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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 investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as private landowners. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), as amended)
4. 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Ms X parks her car in the private car park of the retirement village where she lives. She applied for a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) but did not ask the landowner’s permission to leave the car in the car park.
8. The landowner, her landlord, told the Council the car was abandoned. The Council placed an abandoned vehicle notice on the car. It later placed other notices when the landlord told it the vehicle had been declared SORN without it’s permission in breach of its tenancy agreement with Ms X.
9. Ms X complained to the Council, who suggested she should speak to the landowner because she did not get its permission and was in breach of her tenancy agreement. The Council has acted in line with its policy. Based on the information I have seen there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council actions to justify an investigation by the Ombudsman.
10. Ms X’s landlord says it has not given her permission to park her car in the car park whilst it is SORN. It has asked the Council to remove her car. This is a matter between the private landlord and tenant and is therefore outside the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault with the Councils actions and the action of the landlord is outside our jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman