Summary: Mr X complains on behalf of his deceased father about the Council’s handling of matters relating to a Compulsory Purchase Order it made against his father’s property in 1981. We will not investigate the complaint because it falls outside our jurisdiction as it is a late complaint and if Mr X believes he has a legal case against the Council he can take the Council to court.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains on behalf of his deceased father, who I refer to as Mr Y, about the Council’s handling of matters relating to a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) it made against Mr Y’s property in 1981. Mr X says the Council did not return Mr Y’s title deeds to him which prevented him from being able to prove title and complete the compensation process. Mr X says this led to Mr Y losing his home without compensation and that this ultimately resulted in the breakup of his family.

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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 cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. In considering the complaint I reviewed the information provided by Mr X, including the Council’s responses to the complaint. I gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

6. In the early 1980s the Council issued a CPO for property owned by Mr Y. Despite Mr Y having solicitors acting for him at the time, they received no instructions from him and the matter of compensation for the CPO could not be settled.
7. In 1983 the Council tried to contact Mr Y to resolve the compensation issue but it was unsuccessful in its attempt to make contact. In 1990 it referred the case to the Land Tribunal which determined the compensation payable and this amount, along with the interest due, was paid into the court by the Council in 1992. The court’s records show that this same amount was repaid to the Council on the orders of the court in 2006 as it had not been claimed although the Council’s records do not have a record of this.
8. In July 2019 Mr X instructed solicitors to act in relation to matters concerning the CPO and compensation. The Council responded to the solicitors’ enquiries, and later to direct enquiries from Mr X, but it confirmed that under section 9 of the Limitation Act 1980, there is a limitation period of six years in which to claim the compensation and as this period had now passed, there was no longer a claim for compensation.
9. Unhappy with the outcome to his complaint, Mr X complained to us on Mr Y’s behalf, stating the Council should do whatever necessary to rectify the problems it had caused his family.

Assessment

10. Mr X has complained on behalf of his late father about this matter. However, had Mr Y wanted to pursue matters relating to the CPO and the compensation he was due he could have done so many years ago. The restriction highlighted at paragraph 3 applies to this complaint. It is too late for the complaint to be investigated by the Ombudsman and I see no grounds which warrant exercising discretion to do so now.
11. Mr X says he only found out about the matters of which he complains in 2019 but the complaint is his father’s, and his father could have pursued matters at any time from the 1980s. Moreover, Mr X’s submitted the complaint to the Ombudsman over 12 months after becoming aware of the issues of which he complains.
12. A further restriction on our powers to investigate, highlighted at paragraph 4, also applies to this complaint. If Mr X believes there is a legal case against the Council, he can take action against it through the courts and as this is an alternative remedy we would reasonably expect him to make use of, it also places the complaint outside our jurisdiction.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it falls outside our jurisdiction as it is a late complaint and if Mr X believes he has a legal case against the Council he can take the Council to court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman