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Antisocial Behaviour and complaint handling (December 2024)

Mr J was unhappy about ongoing antisocial behaviour and poor complaint handling.

Summary
The resident raised a complaint concerning:

  • our handling of the resident’s reports of antisocial behaviour (ASB) from a neighbour
  • our handling of their complaint

The complaint relates to reports of noise, banging, and intimidation from the neighbour above. The resident raised concerns starting in 2019, including a prior knife threat from the neighbour, and reported no response after sending video evidence. We acknowledged the issue in June 2021, apologising for communication failures, and sent a warning letter to the neighbour. However, the complaint escalated, and several incidents of noise and ASB were reported through 2022 and 2023, without sufficient resolution.

The Ombudsman found that our handling of the resident’s report of ASB from a neighbour fell below our standards. This included delays in taking action and supporting the resident. Despite the resident reporting ongoing issues since 2019, we did not conduct a risk assessment, or implement an action plan within the required timescales,

We eventually took further action in 2023, this came too late to effectively address the resident’s concerns.

Our complaints handling was also poor which led to significant delays. Whilst we responded to the stage 1 response, we did not log the resident’s escalation as a stage 2 complaint.  Eventually when we did, we offered £100 compensation offered to reflect the inconvenience and impact to the resident.

Determination

  1. There was maladministration in our response to the resident’s report of ASB from a neighbour
  2. There was maladministration in our handling of the complaint

Orders

  1. Write an apology letter to the resident
  2. Pay £600 compensation to the resident
  3. Review our staff training on applying the ASB policy particularly focussing on a need to take a victim centred approach and ensure risk assessments are carried out
  4. Arrange front line staff involved in complaints handling to completed the Ombudsman’s free online dispute resolution training

Recommendations

  1. Review records management in line with the Ombudsman’s spotlight report on knowledge and information management
  2. Create a checklist for ASB cases