Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s alleged historic failures, claims of personal injury, and nuisances coming from a neighbouring property. This is because parts of the complaint are late, it is reasonable for Miss X to pursue her compensation claim in court, and we could not otherwise achieve more than the Council has already done to improve current conditions.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains she has health issues because of a string of tenants in a neighbouring property. Miss X says the Council has been negligent and wants to be financially compensated.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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, section 26B, as amended)
4. We cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), 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 we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants or more than the council has done through its own procedures. (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 Miss X and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Miss X says she was diagnosed several years ago with a long-term condition and believes this was due to neighbours who privately rented the house next door. Miss X raised anti-social behaviour complaints with the Council at the time. She has continued to do so since, about the various tenants who have moved into the property. Miss X says the Council has been negligent in how it has acted on her concerns, causing her health issues to worsen.
9. Miss X has known about key events in the complaint for several years but has only now complained to the Ombudsman. There is no reason she could not have complained sooner, so we will not investigate parts of the complaint which are late.
10. We cannot decide on allegations of negligence or claims for personal injury. They are legal claims for liability, which may only be determined by the courts. It is normal procedure for persons suffering damages or personal injury caused by a council to submit an insurance claim against the Council. I see no reason, in these circumstances, why Miss X could not make a claim in court.
11. On any ongoing neighbour issues, the Council has recognised some faults in its earlier responses to Miss X and taken enforcement action to achieve an improvement in the matters she has complained about. We could not achieve more than this if we were to investigate.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because parts of it are late without good reason, it is reasonable for her to take court action on claims for negligence or personal injury, and we could not achieve anything more for Miss X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman