Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council failed to act on her noise nuisance reports from a neighbouring property. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council failed to continue to pursue her reports of loud music and noise coming from a neighbouring property. She said the Council wrongly attributes the noise to nearby trains rather than her neighbour.
2. Ms X said the ongoing noise disturbance at all hours has caused her avoidable distress and sleepless nights. She wants the Council to inform her neighbour they are not permitted to play loud music at home and should instead rent a venue for such activities.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

6. Ms X has made reports of loud music and noise from a neighbouring property since 2023.
7. The Council investigated sound recordings and determined that the acoustic characteristics, including duration, repeating patterns, frequency, and times of occurrence, were consistent with passing trains. A comparison with train departures from a nearby station confirmed a correlation. As a result, the Council concluded that there was no evidence of noise nuisance caused by loud music from a neighbouring property.
8. In response to Ms X’s most recent noise nuisance reports in 2024, the Council asked her to complete a diary sheet. It installed noise monitoring equipment at her property in June 2024. After reviewing nearly 400 recordings, the Council found that most captured a similar low-frequency rumbling noise. The Council also visited Ms X’s property on at least two occasions. During the most recent visit in October 2024, Ms X confirmed the noise was occurring; however, the Council’s officer only detected intermittent low-frequency sounds.
9. The Council fully investigated Ms X’s concerns. It requested she completed diary sheets, installed noise monitoring equipment, and carried out multiple site inspections. However, it found no evidence of a statutory nuisance from the neighbouring property. The Council said the noise might be due to a railway engineering issue and offered to inform Network Rail. Therefore, there is not enough evidence of fault how the Council investigated Ms X’s reports of noise nuisance to justify our involvement.

Back to top

Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman