The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Ms X complains the Council failed to properly investigate her reports of a water leak and noise nuisance from an adjoining property and her concerns about her water supply. We will not investigate the complaint because an investigation is unlikely to add to that already carried out by the Council or lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
Ms X complains the Council failed to take action to address her reports of a water leak and noise nuisance coming from an adjoining property and her concerns about her water supply. She says this has affected her health and her relationship with her neighbours.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’ which we call ‘fault’. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. 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) 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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
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 complained to the Council about a water leak and noise nuisance coming from an adjoining property which were affecting her and her property. She also complained about her water pressure.
The Council acknowledged that the three elements of her complaint had taken some considerable time to resolve and that it was still dealing with them. It advised Ms X that a senior manager would be attending to assess the leak and provide a second opinion on it and that it would also be further investigating the noise transference issue. With regard to Ms X’s concerns about her water pressure, it said it could not assist with this “private water supply” issue but that it could try to help by speaking to the water supplier.
In response to my request for an update on the first two matters and in relation to Ms X’s concerns about her water quality, the Council advised that the water leaking from the guttering of the adjacent property had been timed at approximately one drop of water per minute above the doorway to Ms X’s home and so the investigating officer had decided that it did not warrant further action.
It said the noise nuisance complaint had been investigated but that based on the times, volume and nature of the noise, and difficultly in attributing it to a specific source, it did not find evidence of a statutory nuisance and had closed the investigation.
It is not our role to act as a point of appeal against decisions made by councils with which complainants may disagree. We cannot question council decisions if they have followed the right steps and considered the relevant evidence and information. The Council has now assessed the water leak and noise and made its decisions and there is no evidence to suggest fault affected them.
The Council noted that Ms X has now complained about the new issue of her water quality (rather than the pressure) and has said it will be contacting her to investigate this matter as soon as possible.
While it has taken some time for Ms X to receive confirmation of the Council’s position with regard to the three issues she had raised, they have now been addressed. As an investigation by the Ombudsman would be unlikely to usefully add to the Council’s own investigations or lead to a significantly different outcome, we will not pursue the complaint further.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because an investigation is unlikely to add to that already carried out by the Council or lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman