Summary: Mr X complains that the Council failed to properly investigate a noise complaint he made about his neighbour. He says it has impacted his and his wife’s wellbeing. The Ombudsman does not find fault with the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, complains that the Council failed to properly investigate a noise complaint he made about his neighbour. He says items have fallen off walls, his smoke detector has been set off, and it has had an impact on his and his wife’s wellbeing.

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What I have investigated

2. As I say in paragraph seven, the Ombudsman cannot investigate complaints that are more than 12 months after the complainant first had knowledge of the problem, unless there are good reasons to do so.
3. Mr X complained to the Ombudsman in August 2020, but he first complained to the Council about the neighbour’s noise in September 2018. Mr X also had a similar complaint with the Ombudsman around that time.
4. I consider that reasonable opportunities existed for Mr X to have pursued this matter in a more timely fashion, and within the time limits laid down in law. As such, I have decided there are no good reasons to exercise the Ombudsman’s discretion to investigate this complaint as far back as 2018. Instead, I have investigated the Council’s actions between August 2019 and August 2020.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
6. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
7. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered the information and documents provided by Mr X and the Council. I spoke to Mr X about his complaint. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on an earlier draft of this statement. I considered all comments and further information received before I reached a final decision.
9. I considered the relevant legislation, set out below.

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What I found

What should have happened

10. Councils are required to investigate complaints of noise nuisance. Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, if noise causes a statutory nuisance, authorities are required to take action to ‘abate’ (reduce) such nuisance.

What happened

11. In September 2019, Mr X wrote to the Council to complain about noise from his neighbour.
12. In November, Mr X wrote to his MP about the noise.
13. The MP contacted the Council. The Council wrote to the MP in February 2020. It said it had not received any complaints from Mr X about noise from this neighbour since 2018.
14. Mr X then complained to the Ombudsman.

Analysis

15. The Council says it did not receive the complaint letter Mr X sent in November 2019. Mr X did not send the letter by registered post, so there is no evidence that the Council received the letter and failed to act on it. For this reason, I cannot find the Council at fault.
16. Mr X has a large number of notebooks in which he has logged his numerous complaints to, and contacts with, the Council about a number of issues about several neighbours.
17. I have seen copies of relevant pages in Mr X’s notebooks.
18. Mr X has a note that he tried to call the Council in August 2019 about noise and litter. I do not find this note shows Mr X made a noise complaint to the Council on that day.
19. Mr X has a note which says he called the Council again in August 2019 about blocked access, litter, and that he “tried to get something done” about noise. Again, I do not find this note shows Mr X made a noise complaint to the Council on that day.
20. For these reasons, I am satisfied that the Council was not aware of Mr X’s noise complaints. Therefore, I do not find the Council at fault.
21. I note that the Council has investigated Mr X’s previous noise complaints.

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Final decision

22. I have completed my investigation and I do not uphold Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is no fault.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman