Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint the Council failed to repair structural damage to her property; or that it mismanaged her son’s benefits. Both these complaints are outside our jurisdiction. We will not investigate her complaint about her neighbour’s use of CCTV, that is because the Information Commissioner’s Office is best placed to consider the matter.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council:
1. failed to act on reports of harassment by her neighbour. She said her neighbor’s CCTV was positioned to face her garden and it caused her distress.
2. failed to act on reports of structural damage to her property. She said she had reported issues since 2016.
3. mismanaged her sons, Mr Y’s, benefits and obtained him a passport without her knowledge.
2. She said the Council’s actions have had a severe effect on her mental health. She wants the CCTV to be removed, her property to be repaired and her son to live with her.

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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 cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
6. We have the power to start or end an investigation into a complaint about actions the law allows us to investigate. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B))
7. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended.)

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
9. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

10. Miss X said the Council failed to address her reports of harassment by her neighbour whose CCTV was positioned to face her garden. In its complaint response the Council said Miss X’s neighbour was permitted to have CCTV, however if she believed her neighbour was not acting appropriately, she should make a complaint to the Information Commissioners Officer (ICO) because it is the body best placed to consider complaints about data protection. We will not investigate this complaint because ICO is best placed to consider it.
11. Miss X said the Council did not respond to her reports of structural damage to her property. We cannot investigate this complaint because Miss X is a social tenant and we cannot investigate complaints about the conduct of social housing landlords.
12. Miss X said the Council mismanaged Mr Y’s benefits and obtained a passport for him without her knowledge. The Council said it advised Miss X that it could not respond to her complaint because of ongoing court proceedings under the Court of Protection. We cannot investigate this complaint because the law prevents us from investigating matters that are subject to court proceedings. It is reasonable for Miss X to raise any concerns she has about the Council’s actions with the Court.

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Final decision

13. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaints as most are outside our jurisdiction and the Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider Miss X’s complaint about her neighbours CCTV.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman