Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to house a tenant. The law says we cannot investigate a Council’s actions when it is acting as a social housing provider. We will not investigate the Council’s handling of anti-social behaviour concerns, because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council housed a tenant close to his home who caused a nuisance and anti-social behaviour (ASB) to residents. Mr X said the Council should have been more diligent in its decision to house the tenant.
2. Mr X said the tenant and their behaviour has caused anxiety for him and his family.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. 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 continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr X complained about the Council’s decision to house a tenant nearby who’s behaviour caused a nuisance, ASB, and upset to Mr X and his family. Mr X said the council should have carried out further checks on the tenant before housing him nearby.
9. Mr X seeks assurances this will not happen again and said the Council should carry out rigorous checks on any potential future tenants.
10. As outlined in paragraph four, the law precludes us from investigating complaints about Council actions where it is acting as a social housing provider. For this reason, we cannot investigate the Council’s decision to house the tenant.
11. Mr X detailed the ASB the tenant had caused in the local area. We can consider how the Council responded to ASB concerns, because these decisions were taken by its ASB team.
12. The Council provided information which outlines the actions it took alongside other statutory agencies to approach the tenant’s behaviour. This includes seeking a closure order from the courts.
13. The available evidence indicates the Council responded to concerns promptly, appropriately and in collaboration with others responsible for community safety. This is what we would expect to see. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council handled the ASB concerns it was made aware of. Therefore, we will not investigate this part of Mr X’s complaint.

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Final decision

14. We cannot not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the law says we cannot investigate a Council’s actions when it is acting as a social housing provider. We will not investigate the remainder of Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman