Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint that the Council did not properly investigate the complainant’s reports of noise nuisance. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, says the Council did nothing to resolve his reports of noise nuisance.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and the Council’s responses. I invited Mr X to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Statutory noise nuisance

4. Councils have a duty to take reasonable steps to investigate potential statutory nuisances. Noise can be a statutory nuisance. To count as a statutory nuisance it must unreasonably interfere with the use or enjoyment of the home or be likely to injure health. Councils rely on officers to gather evidence and to decide if there is a statutory nuisance. Officers will consider issues such as timing, duration and intensity of the alleged nuisance.

What happened

5. In May 2019 Mr X reported noise from his neighbour’s flat. The Council gave Mr X an app so he could record the noise. He recorded one noise over the following month. The Council did not regard this as a statutory nuisance. The Council closed the case.
6. In August Mr X reported noise, possibly from a washing machine. The Council tried to speak to Mr X but he did not return the calls. The Council closed the case.
7. In September Mr X reported noise that was keeping him awake at night. The Council asked Mr X to use the noise app to record the noise and wrote to the person alleged to be causing the noise. Another person reported the same noise and the Council asked them to keep a record. The noise recording revealed a low level humming noise. The Council thought it might be coming from an industrial unit. The Council arranged to visit but this was cancelled by Mr X.
8. The Council installed a noise recording machine in October. It also wrote to Mr X’s neighbours. An officer visited but was unable to locate the source of the noise.
9. The Council analysed the noise recording and found it only revealed low level noise. It told Mr X it had recorded noise such as a dripping tap, wind, a kettle, whispering voices and some quiet rumbles possibly from a washing machine in use during the afternoon. The Council decided the noise was too low to be considered a statutory nuisance. In November the Council told Mr X it had closed the case.

Assessment

10. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council is required to take reasonable steps to investigate reports of noise nuisance. To investigate Mr X’s reports it visited, installed a noise recording machine, gave Mr X an app to record noise, wrote to neighbours and asked neighbours to record noise. The outcome of these investigations was that there was no noise that could be regarded as a statutory nuisance so it closed the case. I appreciate Mr X may disagree with the Council’s findings and continues to assert that he is disturbed by noise but there was no fault in the way the Council responded. The Council took reasonable steps to investigate Mr X’s reports and there is no suggestion of fault by the Council.

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Final decision

11. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman