Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s investigation of noise nuisance from a neighbouring flat. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to take action against his neighbours over noise which he has reported from their flat. He says the Council changed its mind about issuing a warning notice following a question about the racial background of the neighbours. He wants the Council to serve a notice.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, 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))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X complained about noise from his neighbours on over 120 occasions and he says the Council has always told him it is domestic noise which is insufficient to be a statutory nuisance. In 2021 he asked the Council investigate further noise from next door. Council officers visited and asked the neighbours to move bass speakers away from the wall. They advised that the properties had little sound insulation and that noise nuisance could result in an abatement notice being served if a statutory nuisance was present. The neighbours told the Council that they had also suffered abuse and harassment from Mr X’s family.
7. When the officers visited Mr X’s home afterwards he was not at home and they spoke with his family. He says the officers asked about where the neighbours were from and also where Mr X’s family were from. He says this influenced their decision on what action they would take. The Council says the officers were simply making conversation but wanted to get some background on where the neighbours who are students were located.
8. Mr X says the Council told him a warning notice would be served but later changed its mind. The Council says there are no warning notices issued in the statutory noise procedure. The Council did write letters to the neighbours and the landlord about the need to be aware of disturbance due to the poor insulation in the type of property. The only notice it can serve in these situations is an abatement notice under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
9. The Council explained to Mr X that an abatement notice can only be served where there is a statutory nuisance present in the view of the officers. That was not the case here and they were aware that the problem was partly due to poor sound insulation in this type of property which the tenants were not responsible for.
10. The Ombudsman may not question the merits of decisions which have been made in a proper manner. This means we will not intervene in disagreements about the merits of decisions.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s investigation of noise nuisance from a neighbouring flat. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman