Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to pursue further action over noise nuisance reported by the complainant. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s failure to take noise abatement action against the tenants above her. She says that she can hear children playing from 7:00am onwards and sometimes throughout the day. She says the Council should visit her to monitor the noise and take appropriate action.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council’s response.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss X says she is being disturbed most days and especially at weekends by noise from the children in the flat above her. She says she and her son are losing sleep which is affecting their enjoyment of their home. She complained to the Council and asked it to visit her and monitor the noise and take any necessary action.
6. The Council told Miss X that it would not take action against her neighbours over noise from children playing in daylight hours. The courts have ruled in caselaw that domestic noise such as children playing does not constitute statutory nuisance. Any abatement notice served would fail at appeal to the Magistrates as being unreasonable.
7. 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.
8. I have considered the steps the organisation took to consider the issue, and the information it took account of when deciding to take no further action over the noise reported. There is no fault in how it took the decision and I therefore cannot question whether that decision was right or wrong

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to pursue further action over noise nuisance reported by the complainant. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman