Milton Keynes Council (23 021 006)
Category : Environment and regulation > Antisocial behaviour
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 20 Aug 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to take sufficient action against a council tenant who Mr X says is causing noise nuisance and anti-social behaviour. We cannot investigate complaints about the management of tenancies by social housing landlords.
The complaint
- Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to prevent a neighbour who is a council tenant from causing noise and disturbance to his home. He says the tenant is breaching her conditions of tenancy and may be committing housing fraud but the Council has not taken any action against her.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says he has been complaining for over a year about a neighbour who is a council tenant. He says the tenant frequently shouts out of the window and causes noise and disturbance and has loud arguments with a partner. Her son can be heard playing with a ball inside the property often which disturbs Mr X’s enjoyment of his home.
- The Council has told Mr X that the complaints which he had made were largely not matters which would be outside its anti-social behaviour policy and offered mediation between the parties.
- Since 2013 we have had no jurisdiction to investigate complaints about the management of tenancies by social housing landlords. This falls within the remit of the Housing Ombudsman service. Mr X is not a council tenant and so he may be unable to make a complaint to that Ombudsman.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to take sufficient action against a council tenant who Mr X says is causing noise nuisance and anti-social behaviour. We cannot investigate complaints about the management of tenancies by social housing landlords.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman