The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council responded to Mr X’s reports of noise nuisance and anti-social behaviour. That is because the complaint is late.
The complaint
Mr X complained the Council had failed to respond properly to his reports about his neighbour’s noise nuisance and anti-social behaviour. He said he had raised his concerns with the Council since 2018 but it had failed to resolve the problem. He said his neighbour’s behaviour had caused him and his partner a great deal of distress and anxiety. He said the Council should either evict his neighbours or move them to a new property.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Most of Mr X’s complaint to the Council is about how it responded to his reports about his neighbour’s anti-social behaviour. As Mr X’s neighbours are Council tenants, we have no jurisdiction to investigate complaints about the Council’s actions where it is acting as a social landlord.
Mr X’s partner, Ms X also reported noise nuisance to the Council’s environmental health service. The Council’s records show she did that in 2019 and 2020, where it started an investigation. The Council closed the noise nuisance investigation in July 2020.
Mr X did not complain to the Ombudsman until January 2022. If he were unhappy with how the Council had investigated his reports of noise nuisance in 2020 it would have been reasonable for him to complain to the Ombudsman sooner. Therefore, this complaint is late and we will not investigate it.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman