Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions over a neighbour dispute between Miss X and her neighbours. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s failure to take action over her neighbours’ behaviour which she has complained about since 2021. She also complained about the Council investigating a complaint against her made by her neighbours in 2022.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Miss X says the Council failed to make detailed investigations into her complaint about her neighbours in 2021. She said they have continued to spoil her enjoyment of her home by shouting, slamming doors, loud tv and music and staring onto their property. Because no action was taken Miss X installed CCTV cameras in mid- 2022. The neighbours then complained to the Council because they believed they were being filmed on their own property.
7. Miss X believes that the complaint by the neighbours was a direct response to her own complaint in 2021. We will not consider the original complaint made by Miss X because this was outside the normal 12-month period for accepting complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that she could not have complained to us sooner.
8. The Council decided that there was insufficient evidence of anti-social behaviour (ASB) to warrant serving legal warning notices on the parties involved. It did advise Miss X to ensure her cameras did not cause intrusion on her neighbours’ property following advice from a PCSO who viewed them with a Council officer. Miss X says this made here feel like a criminal but it is not unreasonable to require privacy to be respected and this was a joint Council/Police assessment.
9. If the Council had believed there was evidence of significant ASB which was affecting the locality it could have issued Community Protection warnings to both parties. It did not pursue this avenue and treated the matter as a neighbour dispute which maybe resolved by mediation. Both parties agreed with a mediator that they should have no further contact with each other. The Council confirmed to Miss X that she had signed an agreement to this effect. Miss X disputes this and the Council admits it was an error.
10. Miss X later complained that the mediator was ineffective and that the mediation had not resolved noise and bad behaviour from her neighbours. Neither party is a tenant of the Council and because all means of dealing with the dispute have been exhausted, she can now only consider taking court action against her neighbours if she has sufficient evidence.
11. The Ombudsman is concerned with process. We are not a court of appeal. When considering complaints, we may not question the merits of the decision the Council has made or offer any opinion on whether or not we agree with the judgment of the Councils’ officers or members when there is no fault. This means we will not intervene in disagreements about the merits of decisions. The Council has used the powers available to it to resolve the neighbour dispute and without co-operation from the parties involved only the courts can provide an alternative remedy.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions over a neighbour dispute between Miss X and her neighbours. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman