Summary: Ms X complained about the Council housing authority’s failure to take sufficient action over her complaints about noise nuisance from a tenant in a temporary accommodation flat above hers. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which caused injustice. We cannot investigate the actions of a social housing landlord.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, complains that the Council took several months to refer her complaint evidence to its anti-social behaviour team which then rejected her complaint. She says she has suffered from noise nuisance by the tenant’s children since late 2018 and the Council should have taken action sooner.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered all the information which Ms X submitted with her complaint. I have also considered the Council’s response and Ms X has been given the opportunity to comment on the draft decision.

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What I found

5. Ms X lives in a flat which is situated below a private flat leased to the Council for use as temporary accommodation for homeless persons. She says she complained to the housing authority in late 2018 about noise from the tenants above. She told the Council the noise was continuous through the day and evening and questioned the tenant’s parental control given the disturbance.
6. The Council responded to her complaint and asked the tenancy management service to investigate and interview the tenant. This was delayed until February 2019 and Ms X did not receive a substantial response until the following month. The Council said it referred the matter to its anti-social behaviour team, but they could not take any formal action against the tenant because the noise was from family use of the flat and not a nuisance such as amplified music.
7. In March 2019 the Council found alternative accommodation for the tenant and has now ceased to use the flat because the landlord would not provide sufficient sound insulation which it says was the main cause of the noise.
8. We cannot consider the actions of the housing authority in the management of its tenancy. It did refer the matter to the anti-social behaviour team after some delay, but this delay would not have affected the outcome of its decision about action it could take.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which caused injustice. We cannot investigate the actions of a social housing landlord.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman