Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to take action against a social housing tenant for anti-social behaviour over a 5-year period. this complaint which was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner. We have no jurisdiction to investigate the actions of social housing landlords in the management of their tenancies.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s failure to take sufficient action against one of its tenants who caused neighbour nuisance for a five-year period. The tenant was moved before she complained to us but she remains concerned about future problems due to poor party wall sound insulation and the type of tenant who may be allocated the property.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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

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

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My assessment

6. Miss X says her enjoyment of her home has been disturbed by a neighbour who was a council tenant and whose actions deprived her of sleep and made her feel unsafe in her home for five years. It was not until 2023 that the housing landlord served a notice of seeking possession and a Community Protection warning and notice on the tenant.
7. The Council told her that the tenant himself was a vulnerable retired person and that this limited the likelihood of a successful possession action against him. The Council’s environmental team were unable to determine a statutory nuisance due to the noise levels being domestic and associated with poor insulation values in the property.
8. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint which was received more than 12 months after the complainant became aware of the problems with her neighbour. I have seen no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.
9. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wish to complain about, not when they complained to the Council or it issued its final response. We would expect someone to complain to us within a year, even if they were dissatisfied with the time the complaints procedure was taking.
10. We cannot consider what action the social housing landlord may take with regard to sound insulation work in its property, or any restrictions it may place on future tenants because these are tenancy matters outside our jurisdiction.

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Final decision

11. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to take action against a social housing tenant for anti-social behaviour over a 5-year period. this complaint which was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner. We have no jurisdiction to investigate the actions of social housing landlords in the management of their tenancies.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman