Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s responses to reports of rats living in a neighbour’s garden which is in poor condition. There is insufficient evidence that any further investigation would lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council’s failure to resolve a problem of rats in the area which she says is due to the untidy state of her neighbour’s garden. She has been reporting problems since 2022 and the Council has served notices on the neighbour but she believes this has been insufficient. The problem continued after the most recent Community Protection Notice was served. She says she has incurred £200 costs in paying a pest control contractor which he believes should be reimbursed.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

3. 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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

6. Ms X says she has been complaining about her neighbour’s untidy garden to the Council since 2022. It has investigated the case in the past and in August 2024 it issued the neighbour with a Community Protection Notice (CPN) which requires compliance and is in force for 12 months. We will not investigate the events prior to this notice because it was reasonable for Ms X to complain to us at the time.
7. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wished 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. The Council says it monitored the work to clear the garden following the Notice and was satisfied with the improvement. Ms X made further complaints in 2025 when she says there were rats present and seen in her garden. She believed they were connected to a heap of garden waste. The Council served a further CPN in September 2025 and this remains in force.
9. Ms X says she has spent £200 to pay a pest control company to treat her own garden. She believes she should be re-imbursed for this.
10. The Council does not provide any pest control services and has no legal duty to do so or to treat infestations of pests. The only statutory duty the council has is to serve notices on the owners or occupiers of properties or land that are infested, requiring them to get rid of the infestation in a specified timescale. In this case it has carried out several investigations over the years and has issued two CPN’s on the neighbour which carry a criminal penalty if breached.
11. Ms X could have taken her own private action against the neighbour and claimed for the expenses under a civil nuisance action or have taken private action under s.82 of the Environmental protection Act 1990. The Council is not liable to repay her costs for pest control because it has no duty to provide this service and directed her to private contractors in accordance with information on its website about pests.

Back to top

Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s responses to reports of rats living in a neighbour’s garden which is in poor condition. There is insufficient evidence that any further investigation would lead to a different outcome.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman