The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about damage to the complainant’s lawn caused by a fallen tree. This is because it is reasonable for the complainant to pursue their claim for compensation with the courts. There is no evidence of fault with how the Council dealt with repairs to a footpath and there is also no worthwhile outcome achievable by investigating a complaint about this matter.
The complaint
Mrs X complains that the Council is responsible for damage to her lawn after it failed to properly deal with concerns about a nearby tree. Mrs X also complains that the Council delayed carrying out repairs to damage to a footpath outside her home, which was caused by the fallen tree. Mrs X seeks compensation and an apology.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council are responsible for damage to her property due to how it dealt with reports about the tree. We cannot decide liability in complaints about damage to property, only the courts can do this. Mrs X could submit a claim to the Council’s insurers. If the claim is rejected, Mrs X could take the matter to court, and it is reasonable to expect her to do so.
I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council delayed repairs to the footpath outside her home. The Council had to wait for a company to carry out work before it could carry out repair work to utilities before it could repair the path and did so soon after the utility company had completed its work. There is therefore insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. Also, as the work has now been completed there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by investigating the element of Mrs X’s complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is reasonable for her to go to court to seek compensation for damage to her property and there is no evidence of fault in how the Council dealt with repairs to a footpath.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman