Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s investigation of complaints about noise nuisance and anti-social behaviour. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation. We cannot investigate the actions of social housing landlords in the management of their tenants.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council’s failure to take action against her neighbour whom she says is responsible for noise nuisance and anti-social behaviour since she moved to her home in 2020. She says she has suffered loud music, noise form visitors, verbal abuse, smells of cannabis and threats from the neighbour and her visitors.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)
4. 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

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

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My assessment

7. Ms X says she has been complaining to the Council since 2021 and its noise team officers have visited several times in the years since then. We will not consider the matters reported in these years because these matters were reported outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Ms X could not have complained to us sooner. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wish to complain about, not when they complained to the Council or it issued its final response. We would expect someone to complain to us within a year, even if they were dissatisfied with the time the complaints procedure was taking.
8. We can consider the complaints which Ms X made in 2023 and she involved different Council services and the local Police in relation to her complaints about her neighbour. The Council says these bodies did not find evidence to support Ms X’s allegations. We have no jurisdiction to investigate the actions of the Housing management team or Council estate Enforcement team because these services are provided by the social housing landlord and fall within the remit of the Housing Ombudsman..
9. The noise team visited several times in the second half of 2023 in response to Ms X’s complaints about noise and a barking dog. On one occasion the dog warden and RSPCA were involved but no statutory nuisance was identified. Unless an officer is satisfied that a statutory nuisance exists the Council cannot serve an abatement notice.
10. 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.
11. The Council investigated Ms X’s complaints which is its duty but it found insufficient reasons for further action.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s investigation of complaints about noise nuisance and anti-social behaviour. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation. We cannot investigate the actions of social housing landlords in the management of their tenants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman