Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions taken by the Council when it took planning enforcement action against the complainant. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise our discretion and investigate matters which are historical, carried reasonable appeal rights or were more properly for the courts to decide in any event.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council:
• took planning enforcement action after twenty years and forced him to transfer the title of his property in 2014 as it was made clear he would be evicted if he did not agree;
• backtracked from an agreement in September 2019 to pay him for his property and adopted a tripartite agreement instead. He also says the Council took three months to tell him the deal had been broken; and
• claimed it paid him £145,000 for the title but paid him £500 towards their legal costs.

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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 can appeal to a government minister. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(b))
5. The Planning Inspector acts on behalf of the responsible Government minister. and considers appeals about matters including a planning enforcement notice.
6. 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

7. I considered information provided by the Mr X and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. The issues Mr X is complaining about happened in 2014 and 2019 respectively. Furthermore, the background to the issue dates back to more than 20 years ago.
10. It is therefore unlikely the evidence needed to investigate such a complaint will still be available. There is no good reason Mr X could not have complained sooner to the Council and then to us.
11. Even if the complaint was not late we would not likely investigate because it concerns:
• planning enforcement and control in which it would have been reasonable for Mr X to apply for planning permission or certificates of lawful development as he saw fit and appeal against a refusal of permission or against enforcement action; and
• disputes over land ownership and transactions which are properly for the courts to decide.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise our discretion and investigate matters which are historical, carried reasonable appeal rights or were properly for the courts to resolve.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman