A woman suffered anti-social behaviour for more than two years because of Birmingham Council’s inaction, the ombudsman found.
The woman, an owner-occupier, endured aggressive and threatening behaviour from her neighbour after he requested a mutual exchange in 2010 with a housing association tenant living next to the woman.
The ombudsman found the council failed to carry out proper background checks on the man, referred to as ‘Mr X’, before agreeing to the exchange. It also failed to take court proceedings for the possession of the property despite serving Mr X with a noise abatement notice, which was subsequently breached.
The ombudsman found injustice and recommended the authority pay the woman £1,500 in compensation.
A spokesperson for the council said: ‘Lessons have been learned which will help ensure that such matters are dealt with more robustly in future.’