Summary: We will not investigate this complaint alleging the Council’s temporary accommodation team has failed to act on Mr X’s complaints about suffering anti-social behaviour from a neighbour. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault in the Council’s response.

The complaint

1. Mr X is unhappy with the Council’s responses to his complaints about suffering anti-social behaviour. He says he sometimes stays in hotels to avoid the nuisance.
2. He wants to know if the people complained about will be living there long term so he can decide if he needs to move. He also wants the Council to investigate the complaints he has made, apologise to him and take action against the people complained about.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

4. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant which includes the Council’s response. I also got some more information from the Council about Mr X’s case.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X is a tenant of the Council and as outlined in paragraph 4 we cannot look at any matters concerning the Council’s actions as social housing landlord. So we cannot look at how his housing officer responded to his complaint as that lies outside our jurisdiction.
8. The one part of the complaint we can look at is the response of the Temporary Accommodation Team which is responsible for the property in which Mr X’s neighbours live. The Ombudsman retains jurisdiction to consider the actions of the Council’s Temporary Accommodation team.
9. I have seen information showing there is simply no evidence, beyond Mr X’s complaints, to enable the Temporary Accommodation team to take any further action. I also note the Council carried out a general survey of other neighbours to check if anyone else was suffering as Mr X says he is. But no other neighbours had any complaints.
10. In these circumstances we are unlikely to find evidence of fault in the Council’s actions.
11. If Mr X has any new complaints, since the Council dealt with his complaint in May 2021, he needs to bring this to the attention of the temporary accommodation team. If he remains dissatisfied, he will need to exhaust the Council’s complaints procedure before we can look at any recent complaints.

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Final decision

12. I will not investigate as I am unlikely to find evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman