Summary: A homeowner complained about the Council’s failure to resolve issues caused by her neighbour, a Council tenant, breaching her tenancy agreement. But we cannot investigate this matter. This is because the law says we cannot consider complaints about councils acting in their role as landlords of social housing.

The complaint

2. The complainant, who I shall call Miss X, complained the Council had not done enough to resolve problems caused by her next-door neighbour (‘Ms Y’), who is one of its tenants. In particular Miss X said Ms Y had removed a boundary hedge and erected a shed on top of her fence. Miss X was also unhappy the Council said it would ask Ms Y to replace the removed hedge with a fence, but shortly afterwards changed its mind and said it would not ask for a new fence.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. In particular the Act says 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, Schedule 5.5 (as amended)]

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Miss X provided with her complaint, and the comments and additional information she submitted in response to a draft of this decision. I also took account of Miss X’s correspondence with the Council concerning her complaint.

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What I found

5. Last year Ms Y removed a hedge at the front of her property which marked the boundary between her own and Miss X’s sections of a shared pathway. Ms Y also put up a shed in her rear garden.  
6. Miss X complained to the Council about both matters. She said there was no longer a clear demarcation along the shared front pathway, and the shed was hard up against the rear boundary fence preventing access for any repairs.
7. In its complaint responses the Council said Ms Y had agreed to move the shed. In its final response the Council also said it had asked Ms Y to instal a fence along the front path boundary.
8. But in subsequent correspondence the Council changed its position. It said it could not insist on a new fence and had instead asked Ms Y to find another way of marking the boundary.
9. Miss X was unhappy about the Council’s change of mind regarding the fence and the lack of a timescale for Ms Y to move the shed. Miss X said Ms Y was in breach of her tenancy agreement in these respects and she felt the Council should be taking stronger action to resolve matters in the circumstances.

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Analysis

10. But we cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint. In particular, we no longer have power to investigate complaints about councils when they are carrying out their role as landlords of their social housing properties. This follows a change in the law in April 2013 which transferred authority for dealing with most complaints about the management of council housing to the Housing Ombudsman Service.
11. Miss X complained the Council had not done enough to manage the behaviour of its tenant, Ms Y. But the issues in question relate entirely to the Council’s relationship with Ms Y as landlord and tenant, and its function in managing her tenancy.
12. In the circumstances, we are prevented by law from investigating Miss X’s complaint because it concerns the Council’s housing management role.

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Final decision

13. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s inadequate response to issues caused by her neighbour, who is a Council tenant. This is because the law prevents us from pursuing complaints about council housing management.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman