Ms X complained that her garden had been unusable and unsafe for many years. She complained that Trivallis had failed to act promptly to address the issues, even once it had undertaken a site survey and monitored the problems in order to establish what works were required. Finally, she complained that the proposed area of garden to be levelled was too small and that the timescale for completion of the work necessary to make her garden usable was unacceptable.
The Ombudsman found that Trivallis had failed to address Ms X’s concerns for several years, had delayed works once it had been established what was required, and had failed to explain why it proposed to level only part of the garden. The Ombudsman asked Trivallis to, within 1 month, apologise to Ms X, pay her £250 for her time and trouble in pursuing her concerns and to explain why it would not level the entire garden. Within 2 months, the Ombudsman asked Trivallis to complete the necessary works. Trivallis agreed to these actions and so the Ombudsman did not investigate.