Royal Borough of Greenwich (21 009 453)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to take enforcement action against a company for not being a member of a redress scheme. This is because Mr X has a contract with the company which he can enforce regardless of whether it is a member of a redress scheme. Therefore, he has not been caused an injustice as a result of the actions of the Council.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council has failed to force a company to sign up to a recognised redress scheme. The company manages the building where Mr X lives and he says it has failed to address a leak in the roof of his flat.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We will not investigate this complaint as Mr X has not been caused an injustice as a result of the actions of the Council. This is because Mr X has a contract with the company which manages the building where he lives. This sets out the obligations of each party in terms of repairs and other matters. Mr X can force the company to carry out its obligations set out in the contract regardless of whether it is a member of a redress scheme or not.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has not been caused an injustice as a result of the actions of the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman