Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about damage caused to property by overgrown vegetation. This is because the complaint is late with no good reason to investigate it now and the Council’s insurer is better placed than us to consider the issue.

The complaint

1. Ms Y complains on behalf of her mother, that the Council has failed to remove ivy and vegetation growing on Council owned land, which is damaging her mother’s property.
2. Ms Y says her mother has had to replace the roof of her garage due to the problem, which she cannot afford to do again. Ms Y says the fence is also damaged. It has also caused her inconvenience for needing to complain to the Council about the problem.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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)
5. 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 there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the information Ms Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Ms Y says her mother lives next to Council owned flats and land. She says her mother is responsible for the boundary fence and has a garage along the boundary. She says her mother had to replace the roof on her garage in 2019 because of damage done by the overgrown vegetation. She says the fence is also damaged.
8. Ms Y contacted her local MP, who then wrote to the Council to complain. The Council responded to the MP in July 2021. It said Ms Y could either cut back the vegetation herself, or make a claim for the damage caused on her home insurance, who could then contact the Council’s insurer to make a claim. Ms Y then contacted us.

Analysis

9. Ms Y’s mother has been aware of her reason to complain since at least 2019 as she replaced the roof of her garage at this time. Ms Y has said both her husband and her mother were in hospital in mid-2020. While this may have initially delayed Ms Y or her mother from contacting us, it seems unlikely that this would have prevented her for a further year from contacting us. Further, Ms Y was later able to contact her MP about the matter. Therefore, Ms Y would have been able to contact us about the problem earlier than she did. Consequently, there are no good reasons for us to use discretion to investigate the matter now.
10. The Council has also referred Ms Y to how she might claim for damage done to her mother’s property through its insurer. Any claim for damages, such as costs for repairs or replacement of rooves or fences, which Ms Y considers the Council to be responsible for, are matters more appropriately dealt with by either her mother’s insurers and then potentially the Council’s or if necessary, the courts. This is because the courts can consider whether, in this case the Council, are liable for damages, where we cannot. It is therefore reasonable for Ms Y to pursue a claim through either the insurer or the courts. Consequently, we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms Y’s complaint because is late with no good reason to investigate it now and the Council’s insurer is better placed than us to consider the issue.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman