The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of alleged anti-social behaviour by its social housing tenants. This is because the Housing Ombudsman deals with these types of complaints and we have no legal jurisdiction to investigate.
The complaint
The complainant (Miss R) complains about the Council’s handling of alleged anti-social behaviour being perpetrated by her neighbour. She says this is causing her to feel unsafe in her home and wants the Council to remove its tenants.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
As a result of the provisions of the Localism Act 2011, the LGSCO no longer has legal jurisdiction to deal with certain complaints about the provision and management of social housing. This includes complaints by a social housing tenant about a council’s handling of anti-social behaviour by one of their tenants.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Housing Ombudsman deals with these types of complaints. We cannot by law investigate the issues Miss R raises and the restriction I outline at Paragraph 2 (above) applies.
Final decision
We cannot investigate this complaint as we have no legal jurisdiction to do so.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman