Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about antisocial behaviour. Part of the complaint is late and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate it now. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify our involvement regarding more recent matters.

The complaint

1. Ms Y complains about antisocial behaviour from her neighbour and the Council’s handling of this. She says the Council failed to properly investigate her report and was dismissive of her concerns.

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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, sections 26B and 34D, 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, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

5. We will not usually investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34B(8))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. The Council sent a letter to Ms Y informing her it had received a noise complaint about her property. After investigating this, the Council closed the complaint with no further action. Ms Y says the complaint was made maliciously by her neighbour. But the Council has a duty to investigate all reports and complaints it receives, regardless of whether somebody agrees with this.
9. Ms Y told the Council her neighbour had been harassing her for many years. She sent the Council a written log of incidents that had occurred from 2013 to more recently. We expect people to come to us within 12 months of being aware of a matter and Ms Y did not raise a complaint with us until 2026. Therefore, part of this complaint is late and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate it now. We will only consider matters within 12 months of Ms Y bringing her complaint to us, which is between January 2025 and January 2026.
10. The Council investigated Ms Y’s complaint against her neighbour. It decided the incidents reported did not meet the threshold for opening an antisocial behaviour case. It explained the reported incidents did not appear to be persistent or frequent, and noted none of them had been previously reported. The Council further advised Ms Y to contact the police regarding allegations of harassment, as this is not for the Council to investigate. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions or in its handling of Ms Y’s report to justify our involvement. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint.
11. Ms Y wants the Council to issue an injunction against her neighbour. The Council has no power to issue such, and injunctions can only be granted by the courts.
12. I understand Ms Y is seeking financial compensation from the Council. We do not recommend that Councils pay compensation. Sometimes we recommend that Councils pay a symbolic payment to remedy injustice caused by fault. However, where there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions, we do not consider remedies.
13. Ms Y has also complained about the Council’s complaint handling. However, where the Ombudsman has decided not to investigate the substantive issues complained about, we will not usually use public resources to consider more minor matters such as complaint handling.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Ms Y’s complaint because part of it is late, and there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify our involvement regarding more recent matters.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman