Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to follow the wrong process when dealing with Mr X’s report of excessive heat in his home. The investigation remains ongoing, and we consider further investigation now will not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council followed the wrong process when dealing with his reports of excessive heat. He says he reported the problem in 2023, and it remains unresolved.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. In 2023, Mr X told the Council the gym in his building has turned a bin store beneath his flat into an air conditioning plant room.
6. The Council investigated Mr X’s report. It confirmed there was no breach of planning control. However, the environmental health team installed heat monitoring equipment in Mr X’s home and established excessive temperatures.
7. The Council decided this was a statutory nuisance and contacted the freeholder of the building. The gym removed four of the eight air conditioning units in the room below Mr X’s flat. The Council says this improved the situation. However, Mr X says the lower temperature was because 2024 was cooler than 2023.
8. The Council continued to pursue the matter with the building freeholder. However, after more than a year of investigation and negotiation, the Council determined excessive heat is not a statutory nuisance and it cannot serve an abatement notice. It advised Mr X it will consider issuing a Community Protection Notice under anti-social behaviour (ASB) legislation instead.
9. Mr X complains if it had followed the ASB requirements from the outset, the situation may be resolved.
10. The Council has considered this point. It says the matter would not have been resolved sooner as the freeholder had continued to assure officers a resolution was in sight.
11. I understand Mr X is frustrated at the time taken to investigate and resolve the problem of excessive heat in his flat. However the Council confirms the freeholder has provided an action place to relocate the units to a place which will not cause a nuisance to Mr X. The deadline for completion of this work is 31 May.
12. The Council will need to establish whether the work that has taken place has resolved the problem. It will reassess the site when the air conditioning units start working when the warmer weather returns.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the work to resolve the problem is ongoing. A plan is in place to relocate the air conditioning units before the summer. We consider that further investigation will not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman