can I sue my local county council?

uksuzy

I recently moved into a property. It has had a extention added which was started 2000 & signed off as completed last December, by the county council. The property & extention had NO soak-aways for rainwater. The rain water pipes stopped near the ground. No drains, nothing! Rain water just pour onto the ground. After phoning the council, they admitted that the property should not have been signed off without these having been put in first. Can I reclaim any of costs of having to complete the extention at my expense because the council had failed to do their job?

eddddy

Hi uksuzy

No - according to the local government ombudsman, it seems you can't.

If you had a survey, there may be the possibility of suing the surveyor for failing to spot an obvious defect (if it was obvious).

Or if the vendor gave misleading replies to any of your solicitor's pre-contract enquiries on this topic, there is the possibility of suing the vendor.


Anyway, here's what the local govt ombudsman says:

Council officers will not be present for the great majority of the building project and do not act as a ‘clerk of works’. The council will issue a completion certificate when satisfied, after taking all reasonable steps, that the requirements of the Building Regulations have been met. A certificate is not a guarantee that all works have been done to the required standard. Primary responsibility for the building work rests with those who commission it and those who do the work.

The courts have held that the expense incurred by a subsequent purchaser of a house in putting right a construction defect which is discovered before there is any injury to a person or property (other than the defect itself) was pure economic loss and could not be recovered. This decision was partly based on public policy considerations. The Ombudsman, for the same reasons, would not normally impose a remedy the courts have said should not apply.

Link: http://www.lgo.org.uk/publications/fact-sheets/complaints-about-building-control/

moneyistooshorttomention

I wouldn't have thought so, as it wasn't the Council that built it. Surely whoever built it (ie the builder) or the person commissioning the building (ie last owner) would be the person who you would "go for" in law.

It's true that the Council shouldn't have signed it off as finished when it clearly wasn't, but I would very much doubt they would hold legal liability for unfinished work.

I had the Council inspect the new roof on my last property, because they had given a partial grant for it, but ultimately it was down to the builders that I (as owner of that house) employed and their necks to go for if there had been a problem. As owner, I checked the work matched the Council specifications for it as far as I could see as a layperson and then duly waved those specifications at them when I could see that they hadn't matched them exactly and made them alter things.

I rather doubt you would be able to "hold" the Council to something an employee of theirs said in conversation, as they are likely to darn soon say "Our admittance we shouldn't have signed it off doesn't constitute an admittance of legal liability" or, much more likely, lie and say they never said that in the first place.

theartfullodger

What decision was made on a full survey & by whom, please?

Were these issues not visible before purchase?

You can sue: but may not win, which seems to be the consequence of the quote above.

Alinyorks_2

I moved in to a house with a 5 a side soccer pitch which had been built as a sop to the council to gain planning permission for extra homes. Over the years the pitch has been used more and more until now every day and every evening the pitch is in use. The flood lights shine into my 1st floor living room and second floor bedroom. I asked the council to investigate on the grounds of noise and light nuisance and they tell me that because they have granted permission it can be used anytime day or night with no control over the loud noise and the light!! Naturally the nuisance is very wearing but what can I do? Is it possible to sue the Harrogate council for allowing the nuisance to continue? How do I do it? The "manager" of the site hasn't reacted favourably to complaints and is aware the lights aren't even shining on the pitch!!
Help!

k3lvc

Alinyorks wrote: »

I moved in to a house with a 5 a side soccer pitch which had been built as a sop to the council to gain planning permission for extra homes. Over the years the pitch has been used more and more until now every day and every evening the pitch is in use. The flood lights shine into my 1st floor living room and second floor bedroom. I asked the council to investigate on the grounds of noise and light nuisance and they tell me that because they have granted permission it can be used anytime day or night with no control over the loud noise and the light!! Naturally the nuisance is very wearing but what can I do? Is it possible to sue the Harrogate council for allowing the nuisance to continue? How do I do it? The "manager" of the site hasn't reacted favourably to complaints and is aware the lights aren't even shining on the pitch!!
Help!

Apart from the fact you've hijacked someone elses thread you don't really have a leg to stand on - it's like people who move next to an airport and complain about plane noise or next to a river and complain about flooding

Presumably you were aware of the facility when you moved in and carried out your own assessment of the disturbance it was likely to cause

Unless the pitch is being used at unsociable hours then I can't see you've any grounds for recompense