Southend-on-Sea City Council (23 014 167)
Category : Environment and regulation > Antisocial behaviour
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 30 Jan 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to properly manage the tenancy of Miss X’s neighbour. We have no jurisdiction to investigate complaints about the management of tenancies by social housing landlords.
The complaint
- Miss X complained about the Council’s allocation of a tenancy to her neighbour in 2021 under the Government’s Next Steps in Accommodation Programme (NSAP). She says the Council could not have checked the tenant’s background properly and that he has committed crimes in the area and harassment to her without it taking action against his tenancy.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 the information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss X says the Council housed a tenant in neighbouring property without taking his criminal record into account and this resulted in his continued harassment to her and crimes in the area. The Council told her it cannot divulge what it considered when it granted the tenancy due to data protection reasons. It said that the NSAP scheme required that persons who were street homeless or from complex vulnerable backgrounds were eligible for housing under this government-funded scheme. This was a separate process to the normal allocations policy.
- The tenant lives in a property managed for the Council by a social housing landlord. Miss X has made a complaint to the landlord about delay in taking action on his tenancy. We have no jurisdiction to investigate complaints about tenancy management by social housing landlords, including councils.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to properly manage the tenancy of Miss X’s neighbour. We have no jurisdiction to investigate complaints about the management of tenancies by social housing landlords.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman