Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to deal with problems Mr X has reported about his tenancy since 2022. We cannot investigate complaints about the actions of a social housing landlord with regard to tenancy management, repairs and direct management moves. We also cannot investigate Mr X’s compalint about the Council serving him with a Community Protection Notice. It was reasonable for Mr X to appeal the Notice if he wished to challenge it.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about various housing related matters dating back to 2022. He says he was forced to move out of his council rented home due to anti-social behaviour from neighbouring tenants. He also complained about the Council’s failure to offer him a management move to another tenancy or to prevent neighbours from installing CCTV.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
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)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could appeal to a court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Mr X says the Council failed to properly investigate his complaints about anti-social behaviour and other issues which he has experienced since 2022. He subsequently complained to the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS) which investigated complaints related to the neighbour complaints, repairs his management transfer request and the use of CCTV by neighbours.
8. The HOS issued a report in 2025 which was critical of the Council in these aspects. It recommended that the Council should compensate him for the failure in dealing with ASB and noise nuisance in the block where he lives and make a risk assessment before he returns to his home. The HOS found no fault with the landlord’s consideration of a management move, CCTV request, repairs and the level of compensation awarded.
9. Mr X’s complaint to us is about largely the same issues as those investigated by the HOS. We have no jurisdiction to investigate social housing landlords with regard to tenancy management. We have no discretion to look at matters which the Housing Ombudsman is responsible for and this covers those points raised in Mr X’s complaint to us.
10. We can consider transfer applications made under a Council’s choice-based lettings policy as allocations under the Housing Act 1996. However, Mr X has only mentioned his desire for a management move and these are discretionary moves made by the social housing landlord directly.
11. Mr X asked in his complaint that we consider matters from March 2022 until February 2023 which pre-dates the timeframe for the HOS investigation. Even if these issues were within our jurisdiction, we will not investigate matters which the complainant was aware of more than 12 months before they complained to us. As the events relate to a period from 3 years before Mr X complained we would not consider them now.
12. Mr X says that when he moved to his parents’ home because he could not cope with living in his rented flat with the neighbour problems, the Council issued him with a Community Protection Notice and his parents with warning letters. He says the is a vindictive action by the Council following the HOS report. Community Protection Notices carry a right of appeal to the Magistrates Court if some who has ben issued with one wishes to challenge it. It was reasonable for Mr X to use this appeal right.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to deal with problems Mr X has reported about his tenancy since 2022. We cannot investigate complaints about the actions of a social housing landlord with regard to tenancy management, repairs and direct management moves. We also cannot investigate Mr X’s compalint about the Council serving him with a Community Protection Notice. It was reasonable for Mr X to appeal the Notice if he wished to challenge it.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman