Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with Mr X's complaints about nuisance from another resident. There is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained that the Council failed to take sufficient action to deal with nuisance caused by another resident. Mr X says that as a result he and his wife lived with the risk of harm for longer than necessary which caused significant distress to them.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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)
4. 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, (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Mr X complained to the Council over several years about nuisance and the risk of harm caused by the condition of another resident’s property. We will not consider how the Council dealt with Mr X’s concerns before 2025. Mr X made his complaint to the Ombudsman in January 2026 so events before January 2025 are late. It was open to Mr X to have made a complaint to us sooner. Mr X did not pursue the matter with the Council between 2021 to 2025. So, there are no good reasons to investigate the events before 2025.
8. Mr X raised concerns with the Council about nuisance from the resident’s property. Mr X then complained that the Council did not take sufficient action to deal with his concerns. In response to his complaint, the Council explained the resident’s landlord was dealing with the matter and there was no requirement to duplicate its work. The Council noted it had powers to deal with the nuisance but would only use them when appropriate to do so.
9. In response to our enquiries, the Council provided its records to show how it dealt with Mr X’s concerns. We cannot provide the details of the action taken as it includes personal information about a third party which we cannot disclose. But the information provided by the Council shows it properly considered Mr X’s concerns. So, there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigate into how it reached its decision not to take action against the resident.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint as there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman