Mr A complained that the Council held incorrect information about his business which was provided to prospective buyers when selling his property. He said this resulted in the loss of 2 sales and a substantial financial loss due to a reduced sale price. He also complained about the handling of his Freedom of Information (FOI) request, and that he had received no response to his recent correspondence.
The Ombudsman did not consider there was evidence that the Council held or had provided, incorrect information or that the information requested under FOI would have altered the outcome. Any issues about the FOI request were primarily for the Information Commissioner’s Office to consider. However, she was concerned that Mr A’s more recent correspondence had not been responded to, which the Council had accepted was due to its omission, because of capacity issues within its service.
The Ombudsman was satisfied that the Council had already taken action to address the capacity issues. She sought and obtained the Council’s agreement to respond to the outstanding correspondence within 10 working days.