Summary: We will not investigate how the Council dealt with Mr X’s complaint about bailiff enforcement fees as Mr X can address the substantive matter in court.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council did not investigate his complaint that its enforcement agents (bailiff) did not provide evidence that it visited his property. Mr X says this caused him stress, frustration and inconvenience.

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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 law 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)
4. We will not usually investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34B(8))

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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. Mr X complained to the Council that the evidence its bailiff relied upon, to demonstrate it had visited his address, was flawed as the Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates it provided did not match his address, and as no letter was left.
8. The bailiff, acting on behalf of the Council, responded to Mr X’s complaint. It said that the additional £235 enforcement fee was triggered by its visit and was not determined by whether a letter was left. It said that the coordinates were within the vicinity of Mr X’s address and so it was satisfied the visit had been conducted.
9. Mr X is unhappy about the extra charge and as he feels the Council did not investigate the matter.
10. We will not investigate the Council’s complaint handling in isolation, for the reasons given in paragraph four. We will not investigate the substantive matter, the disputed fees, as Mr X can challenge this in court, the remedy provided in law for such disputes, under the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. The courts can provide a legal ruling, whereas we cannot. It is therefore reasonable to expect Mr X to resort to court action, to dispute the fees imposed.
11. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he can take the substantive matter to court and we will not investigate the Council’s complaint handling in isolation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman