Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s investigation of noise nuisance because there is insufficient fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complains about the Council’s failure to act on his reports of noise nuisance from his neighbour. He also complains about the Council investigating him for antisocial behaviour.
2. Mr Y says he feels the behaviour from his neighbour is antisocial which has affected both his physical and mental health and he cannot sleep due to the noise.

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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)
4. 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

5. I considered information provided by Mr Y and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr Y complained to the Council about his sleep being disrupted due to noise from his neighbour. Mr Y says this is affecting his health.
8. The Council says following the noise report by Mr Y they installed noise recording equipment in his property. The Council says the report from the noise recording equipment showed no evidence of deliberate noise as part of any antisocial behaviour.
9. Mr Y says he has video and audio evidence of the noise nuisance and antisocial behaviour by his neighbour. The Council says it asked Mr Y to provide this audio and video evidence, but Mr Y has not provided it.
10. The Council investigated the noise complaint by installing noise recording equipment, which showed no evidence of deliberate noise or statutory nuisance. The Council also provided Mr Y the opportunity to provide evidence. As Mr Y did not provide evidence of the audio and video recordings, the Council was entitled to form a view based on the evidence it had, which it has done so. Therefore, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
11. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
12. We cannot overrule the Council’s decision on whether to take action. It is not our role to say whether the noise that you are complaining about is a nuisance in law or whether action must be taken to reduce it. Only a qualified officer can decide if there is a statutory nuisance. In this case the Council decided there was not enough evidence of a statutory nuisance for it to take formal action. Therefore, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
13. Mr Y is also unhappy the Council has investigated him for antisocial behaviour following a complaint by his neighbour. When a Council receives a complaint of antisocial behaviour, they are expected to investigate that complaint and response to it under its powers under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. As the Council were required to investigate, there is not enough evidence of fault in it considering the neighbour’s complaint about Mr Y for us to justify investigating.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint about the Council’s investigation of his noise nuisance complaint because there is insufficient fault which would warrant an investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman