Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council’s action, following his contact about noise nuisance, caused a breakdown in his relationship with a neighbour. The Council has not caused Mr X injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council treated a request for information as a complaint about their neighbour causing noise nuisance. He says the Council wrote to his neighbour and this has resulted in a breakdown in their relationship.
2. Mr X complains the Council failed to deal with his complaints properly or according to its procedure, and he had to chase it to get a reply. He says the Council failed to address all the issues raised and did not uphold all the complaints. Mr X says the Council should deal with the complaints further, apologise properly, and pay compensation for causing him time and trouble, anxiety, stress, and harming the relations with the neighbour.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

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

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered Mr X’s information, comments and reply to my draft decision statement. The information includes his correspondence with the Council and a photograph of the properties.

Back to top

What I found

5. Early in 2019, Mr X wrote to the Council and asked for ‘help’ due to noise from the neighbour’s property. He wrote: ‘we’re extremely disturbed by their noise on a daily basis…after three years of asking it is clear that they are unwilling to consider the ongoing impact their behaviour has on our lives and well being. Not only are we often extremely tired, we are constantly anxious…’ Mr X asked the Council to let him know if the neighbour had permission (landlord’s consent) for work done at the property and, if so, what the Council had required them to do. He ends the letter: ‘Thanks so much for any advice and assistance you can give us’.
6. A few days later, on 3 April, the Council’s home ownership team emailed Mr X to say it had forwarded his referral to its noise team (i.e. environmental health). Mr X replied: ‘I look forward to hearing from the Noise Team. However, the specific queries in my email related to landlord’s consent [for the work] and the impact that has on us as neighbours’
7. The same day the home ownership team replied: ‘…apologies I didn’t fully answer your email. I can confirm that under the terms of the lease consent is not required…Once the Noise Team have responded/investigated, I will be in a position to issue a breach of lease to the residents should it be found that the noise is excessive.’
8. Nearly four weeks later Mr X emailed the Council to say he had not heard from the noise team and would the officer chase it up. Within a week the environmental health team wrote to Mr X to say it had opened a noise nuisance case and sent a warning letter to the neighbour.
9. On 10 May 2019 Mr X complained to the Council saying he had not made a noise complaint. He says: ‘we were making enquiries aimed at working out how to improve the situation between us and the neighbours’ and that the Council ‘has inflamed a sensitive situation’.
10. On 3 July the Council replied to the complaint apologising for any inconvenience caused and saying it has removed the records relating to the complaint (Mr X had asked the Council to ensure the record showed he had not complained against about his neighbour). On 19 July Mr X complained again to the Council which replied at stage 2 of its procedure on 22 August. That letter apologises to Mr X for the lateness of the stage 1 reply.
11. Mr X tells me, in reply to my draft decision, that he expected ‘assistance’ from the Council not a noise investigation. He says: ‘I wanted to see what was available from the Council’s noise experts’. He says the Council’s stage 2 complaint reply was ‘late and incomplete’.

Analysis

12. I will not investigate this complaint. The Ombudsman investigates injustice caused by a council’s administrative fault. I do not consider the Council has caused Mr X injustice for the following reasons:
1. On 3 April 2019, the Council wrote to Mr X telling him that the ‘noise team’ would respond/investigate his complaint and that if the noise was excessive it would send the neighbour a breach of lease notification. That is a warning that the Council could take action against the neighbour. If Mr X had not intended to make a noise complaint or did not want a communication sent to the neighbour he should have told the Council at that point. He did not do so and his next communication was to ask it to chase up the involvement of the noise team. The Ombudsman cannot say the Council is responsible for any change in Mr X’s relationship with his neighbour.
2. There is no injustice arising from the complaint handling. The Council has apologised for the delay in replying to the stage 1 complaint. The Ombudsman will not normally investigate complaint handling when the substantive matter is not being investigated and there is no reason to do so here.

Back to top

Final decision

13. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council’s action, following his contact about noise nuisance, has caused a breakdown in his relationship with his neighbour. The Council has not caused Mr X injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman