London Borough of Wandsworth (25 002 057)
Category : Housing > Homelessness
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 04 Aug 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about how the Council responded to her concerns about statutory nuisance. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault.
The complaint
- Ms X complains about how the Council handled her concerns about air quality from a neighbour smoking in his flat. Ms X says she cannot have her windows open which has impacted on her health.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Ms X lives in temporary accommodation provided by the Council. She complained that smoke from a neighbouring flat made her unwell. The Council installed air quality monitoring equipment which showed no evidence the air quality was unsafe in Ms X’s flat. It suggested mediation and offered Ms X alternative temporary accommodation.
I will not investigate this complaint as there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation. The Council considered relevant information when concluding that there was no evidence of a statutory nuisance. In the absence of fault we cannot question that conclusion.
- Ms X asked the Council to ban smoking within the building or to move her neighbour. The Council decided not to do this. These are outcomes we cannot achieve.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman