The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s investigation of anti-social behaviour reported to it. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Ms X complained about the Council’s investigation of her complaints about neighbours who live in housing association rented property. She says the Council decided that she was responsible for anti-social behaviour, despite the evidence which she sent to it and the social housing landlord.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X says she has been complaining about her neighbours behaviour to their housing association landlord for the past 11 years. Her complaints have not met with any action from the landlord. She reported the behaviour of the tenants to the Council and in early 2023 the Council sent her an advisory letter about evidence of anti-social behaviour by her against her neighbours. Ms X refutes the claim that she is the perpetrator.
In June 2023 the Council issued Ms X with a community protection notice warning letter following further evidence it had from her neighbours. The letter restricts her from certain activity considered to be a nuisance against named parties and advises that further activity will result in a community protection notice being served.
Ms X still disputes the reasons for the warning and says the Council has treated the matter unfairly and with bias towards her neighbours.
The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
The Council is required to take action over ant-social behaviour as it sees fit and proportional. If a community protection notice is issued, Ms X will have a right to appeal against it to the Magistrates Court. We cannot investigate the actions of the neighbours’ housing association landlord because we have no jurisdiction not consider complaints about social housing landlords in their management of tenancies.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s investigation of anti-social behaviour reported to it. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman