Summary: Ms X complains about the Council’s handling of matters relating to problems she has had with her neighbours. We will not investigate the complaint because an investigation is unlikely to add to that already carried out by the Council or lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Ms X, says the Council has not supported her in relation to nuisance, harassment and anti-social behaviour problems she has had with neighbours over a number of years. She says the Council has not taken appropriate action and has failed to pass on to the police information which she believes the police could use as part of its investigation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. 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, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
7. I gave Ms X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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My assessment

8. Ms X has had problems with her neighbours over a number of years and she and her neighbours have reported problems to the Council.
9. In July 2022, the Council, responding to communication from Ms X, addressed matters she had raised under its complaints procedure. It answered numerous points she had raised in some detail and explained that it could only act within the law and based on evidence obtained. It said it would continue to monitor the reports made by both her and her neighbours but that private, civil law matters between them were not matters the Council would be involved in.
10. The restriction highlighted at paragraph 3 apply to past events involving Ms X and her neighbours and building works which Ms X undertook. As we would reasonably have expected Ms X to have complained to us sooner about these matters, we will not investigate them now.
11. The Information Commissioner deals with Subject Access Requests and FOI requests and as this is the body best placed to deal with these matters we will not investigate them.
12. The Council has spent a considerable amount of time and effort investigating Ms X’s and her neighbours’ reports about each other’s behaviour. To date it has not taken the action Ms X would like but this is not evidence of fault by the Council. Ms X says she wants the Council to be transparent with the police but the Council has already confirmed it will respond to any police enquiries in accordance with the data protection legislation.
13. Ms X says she wants the Council to take action, warn her neighbours they could receive a Community Protection Notice and to treat them as vexatious complainants. However, these are decisions for the Council and not Ms X to make based on the evidence available to it. We cannot question decisions made by councils if they have followed the right steps and considered the relevant evidence and information.
14. If Ms X and her neighbour are unable to settle private law issues such as boundary line disputes, it is open to her to seek legal advice in pursuing a civil claim against her neighbour. This is not a matter the Council would be involved in.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because an investigation is unlikely to add to that already carried out by the Council or lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman