The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council wrongly accused Mr X of responsibility for creating a rat infestation. This is because the complaint falls outside our jurisdiction due to the availability of appeal rights to the courts.
The complaint
The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, says the Council wrongly accused him of creating a rat infestation through the alleged poor state of his drain system, disregarding two restaurants next to his property which he says were the source of the problem.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council issued Mr X with a legal notice under the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949 following the report of a rat infestation.
Under the Act, appeal rights exist for those issued with a notice. Mr X did not exercise his right of appeal.
The restriction highlighted at paragraph 2 applies to Mr X’s complaint because, while he did not use it, he had an alternative remedy available through the courts which we would reasonably have expected him to have used. As this is the case, the complaint falls outside our jurisdiction and will not be investigated.
Moreover, other events raised in connection with this complaint date back to 2018 and the time restriction highlighted at paragraph 4 applies to these past events. As Mr X would have known about them, we would reasonably have expected him to have made a complaint at the time.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the complaint falls outside our jurisdiction due to the availability of appeal rights to the courts.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman