Section: Antisocial Behaviour & Nuisance

Antisocial Behaviour Not Dealt With

Mr and Mrs R, who are owner-occupiers, complained that Caerphilly County Borough Council failed to take effective action to deal with their complaints of nuisance from their neighbour, who is a council tenant.

Mr and Mrs R made a number of complaints about antisocial behaviour by the council tenant's family and her partner from September 2000. The allegations included abuse, threatening behaviour, and rubbish being thrown into their property.

In July 2001, the council tenant's partner damaged Mr and Mrs R's property and was subsequently convicted in the courts. There was no evidence of a proper investigation of this incident by housing officers. The Council wrote belatedly to the tenant in August 2003, warning her that the partner's conviction amounted to a breach of her tenancy conditions and further breaches could result in legal action.

The tenant's parents had also assaulted Mr R and been issued with a police caution in November 2001. Housing officers had advised Mr and Mrs R that they could take no action because neither the tenant nor her partner were involved. This was clearly wrong and took no account of the conditions of her tenancy.

There was further delay in advising the tenant that there had been a breach of her tenancy conditions following her partner's conviction for criminal damage and assault on a visitor to Mr and Mrs R's property in July 2005. Court actions for assault and harassment brought by the tenant against Mr and Mrs R respectively were unsuccessful.

The Ombudsman concluded that:

There was evidence the Council had not complied with its own procedures in dealing with Mr and Mrs R's complaint.
Housing officers had not reached their operational decisions fairly and objectively based on the evidence on the Council's files.
There was a reluctance to take action against the tenant on the part of officers.

The Ombudsman was particularly concerned by the lack of proper record keeping in this case, which had given weight to Mr and Mrs R's complaints that their concerns were not properly investigated.

The Ombudsman could not say with any certainty whether the tenancy would have been repossessed had the Council acted in accordance with its policy. But he considered that had the Council acted appropriately and dealt promptly and firmly with its tenant, relations between the neighbours would not have deteriorated to the extent they had.

He recommended that the Council should take prompt and effective action should the neighbour nuisance recur. He also recommended that the Council should apologise to Mr and Mrs R and make them a compensatory payment of £2,000.

Public Services Ombudsman for Wales Report No. 200500032

RTB Withdrawn Because of Nuisance

Mrs W, a tenant of Conwy County Borough Council, complained to the Ombudsman that the Council had repeatedly failed to deal with breaches by her neighbours of the conditions of their tenancy.

She had submitted evidence to the Council of acts of nuisance and unacceptable behaviour from early in the start of her neighbours' tenancy. That nuisance included racial verbal abuse, noise, foul smells, and acts of intimidation. The nuisance affected others, who also complained to the Council - either directly or through the Community Council.

The Ombudsman's investigation showed the Council did not have a racial harassment policy in place and had no specific procedures for dealing with antisocial behaviour prior to implementing the requirements of the Antisocial Behaviour Act, in November 2005. Other administrative weaknesses were highlighted, which impinged to some degree on the complaint. Despite having a substantial body of evidence available, the Council over a lengthy period failed to recognise the severity of the situation and take appropriate action. When the Council eventually took legal action against the perpetrators, it was dilatory and ineffectual.

The Ombudsman found that there had been extensive and systemic maladministration leading to personal injustice to the complainant. The Ombudsman recommended that the Council should:

bring its procedures up to date; and
take appropriate action against the perpetrators of the nuisance to resolve matters.

The Ombudsman also recommended that, as Mrs W had withdrawn from her Right to Buy application as a direct result of the Council's failure to act, the Council should offer her a fresh opportunity to buy her property. This should be at the offer price and with the rate of discount prevailing at the time of the initial application. Should the Council fail to resolve the nuisance within 12 months, the Ombudsman recommended that the Council should enable Mrs W to buy a comparable property.

The Ombudsman further recommended that the Council should pay Mrs W £2,500 per year, or majority of a year, from 1 January 2003 until the time the issue is resolved.

Section: Antisocial Behaviour & Nuisance

Antisocial Behaviour Not Dealt With

RTB Withdrawn Because of Nuisance

Housing Monthly Diary

Issue: November 2006 Reporting on Sept.-October 2006

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