Making a complaint

If you believe that you have suffered injustice or error from the public authorities, you can complain to the Ombudsman.

Before you complain to the Ombudsman, you must have exhausted all local complaints procedures. This means that you first must have complained to the public agency that dealt with or decided your matter, such as your local municipality.

If your complaint is refused, you must check whether you can make a complaint to a higher complaints body, such as the County Governor.

If all your complaints are refused and you still think there is a wrong or injustice that has not been corrected, you can make a complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

The deadline for complaints to the Ombudsman is one year from the final decision on the matter was taken or from the time the matter occurred or arose.

But if a public agency uses a very long time to process your case or does not reply at all, you can complain to the Ombudsman on the grounds of slow case processing or a failure to reply – while the case still is pending.

You may also make a complaint if you think that a public agency has acted in an inconsiderate, insulting or other inappropriate manner.

Not all complaints are suitable for evaluation by the Ombudsman. Below are some common complaints the Ombudsman usually cannot deal with:

• judicial decisions and decisions that can be appealed to the courts, such as the seizure of property in order to obtain payment of rent or other money owed, or compulsory deduction from salary
• disagreements / disputes between individuals, such as neighbour disputes, disputes over private contracts or complaints about private organizations
• cases where a public agency acts as a private party. This applies to, for example, disputes over municipal tenancy agreements or the purchase of publicly-owned property

The Ombudsman can provide an objective and impartial legal evaluation of your complaint. Making a complaint to the Ombudsman is free of charge.

Make a complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman. Click here to open the online complaints form.