Summary: X complained about the way the Council investigated their complaint about their neighbour’s alleged anti-social behaviour in 2022. We will not investigate this complaint further, because the matters complained about occurred long before our 12-month time limit on investigations. There is no evidence that persuades us to use our discretion to go back beyond this limit.

The complaint

1. The person that complained to us will be referred to as X.
2. X complained the Council failed to properly investigate their concerns about their former neighbour’s anti-social behaviour.
3. X said that, as a result of the Council’s failure, they were forced to sell their home. X wants the Council to investigate their complaints properly and take enforcement action against their former neighbour.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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)
5. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
6. 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

7. I read the complaint and discussed it with X. I read the Council’s response to the complaint and discussed the case with a manager from the department that deals with anti-social behaviour allegations.
8. I have given the Council and X an opportunity to comment on my draft decision and taken account of any comments I received.

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What I found

Anti-social behaviour law

9. The Anti-social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 gives power to the police and local authorities to investigate and deal with anti-social behaviour. The aim of the legislation is to protect victims of such behaviour and to make communities safer.

What happened

10. The events X complains about go back several decades and include complaints relating to planning decisions that are the subject of another decision we have investigated.
11. In their complaint to the Council, X said they have evidence, including video evidence, which the Council should look at, but had so far failed to do so.
12. In its response to X’s complaint, the Council said it had reviewed the evidence it held in its database, and its view remained that this was a dispute between two neighbours. The Council said that if X had evidence of criminal damage caused by their neighbour, they should provide it to the police.
13. I spoke to a manager from the department that deals with anti-social behaviour allegations. The manager said:
• The last contact the Council had with the complainant was in 2022 and the investigation file was closed in May of that year.
• This was a neighbour dispute, where each party made claims against the other.
• It had no records of video evidence on its document management system, but an officer remembers a discussion with another officer, who said that X had shown video footage to them. The officer recalls that their colleague’s view was that the footage did not provide evidence of anti-social behaviour.

My findings

14. The Ombudsman’s powers are subject to time limits. We do not normally investigate matters unless they are brought to our attention within 12-months from when events occurred or the complainant could have known about them. We have discretion to go back beyond this limit but would need a good reason to do so.
15. We should not investigate late complaints or complaints that relate to matters that occurred long ago, unless:
• we are confident that there is a realistic prospect of reaching a sound, fair, and meaningful decision, and
• we are satisfied that the complainant could not reasonably be expected to have complained sooner.
16. The events X has told us about happened long before our 12-month time limit and I have not seen any reason why X could not bring their complaint to our attention sooner.

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Decision

17. The complaint is late because it was not brought to our attention within our 12‑month time limit, and there is no good reason to investigate these matters now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman