Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council forcing Ms X to sign a party wall agreement or that it has failed to complete works to her building leaving her with substantial costs. Her complaints about the agreement and also improvement and prohibition orders served on her as a landlord took place in 2021, which is outside the12-month period for receiving complaints. Her complaint about completion of the agreed works is a private legal matter and she would need to challenge the Council in the courts for any incomplete work which has caused her expense.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council carrying out improvement works to her building and adjacent commercial buildings which have left her with financial losses. She says she has lost rental income and the works are not completed even though they began in 2021.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council’s responses.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Ms X owns a building which has walls shared with neighbouring commercial properties. In 2021 the Council told her that her building was unfit for use as a house in multiple occupation, which is what it was in use as and it told her she required substantial improvement works to prevent renting it from being illegal. The Council served her as landlord with an improvement notice and a prohibition order which prevented further rental without improvements.
7. Because the Council needed to improve the adjacent commercial buildings on each side it entered into a party wall agreement for one adjacent building with Ms X which would provide some of the required works to her property as part of the works to the others. Ms X says she was forced into this agreement but she made no legal challenges at the time. the Council was also required to seek a party wall award for the other boundary because Ms X would not co-operate with it on this application.
8. Ms X says she lost rental revenue during the years when the work was carried out. The Council says she was not legally allowed to rent the building out because of the notices and orders preventing this and she did not appeal them so she had to forego the rental income. The improvement notice restrictions still apply and prevent her from renting the property as a single let because she has not yet met fire safety requirements and other legal aspects of the notice.
9. Ms X has argued with the Council that it has not completed the works and it will cost her to do so. The Council says it spent £120,000 improving her building which she would have been required to pay herself had the other buildings not shared party walls and required urgent improvement. Her building was unsafe and illegal for rental use so it does not consider she is entitled to any compensation for the additional work. It says the outstanding work was not in the party wall agreement schedule and is her responsibility as the building owner.
10. We will not investigate the complaints about the party wall agreement and awards which took place outside the12-month period for receiving complaints. I have seen no evidence to suggest that Ms X could not have complained to us sooner. If she wished to challenge the improvement notices and prohibition order she could have done so in 2021 as the notices explained her right of appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal.
11. If Ms X believes the works were not completed according to the schedule of the party wall agreement she would need to seek legal advice because this is a private agreement between the Council and her as a building owner.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council forcing Ms X to sign a party wall agreement or that it has failed to complete works to her building leaving her with substantial costs. Her complaints about the agreement and also improvement and prohibition orders served on her as a landlord took place in 202,1 which is outside the12-month period for receiving complaints. Her complaint about completion of the agreed works is a private legal matter and she would need to challenge the Council in the courts for any incomplete work which has caused her expense.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman