Decision report 201003868

Summary
Mr C complained that the council failed to carry out effective risk assessments when deciding to house a vulnerable adult in accommodation next door to his mother-in-law, Mrs A. He was of the view that the council also failed to deal with reports of anti-social behaviour by their tenant and by visitors to his home. Mr C also said that the council failed to provide any support to Mrs A following a fire at the neighbour's home and also failed to offer to pay for her insurance excess. Following our examination of the case we did not find evidence to suggest that the council failed to carry out appropriate risk assessments or that the neighbour had been housed in unsuitable accommodation. We also did not uphold the complaint that the council failed to investigate the concerns about anti-social behaviour. We found that the council had explained how Mrs A could make a claim to the council's insurers. We did, however, find that the council failed to offer any support to her after the fire. We considered that providing some support would have been appropriate under the circumstances and we upheld this aspect of the complaint. We recommended that the council apologise to Mrs A for this failing and also consider whether there is a need to introduce a procedure to deal with incidents such as this and to address the potential needs of elderly neighbours.

Recommendations
We recommend that North Ayrshire Council:
• provide a further apology to Mrs A for their failure to provide her with support; and
• consider whether there is a need to introduce a procedure to deal with incidents such as this and to address the potential needs of elderly neighbours.