Neighbour complaints

marbie

Hi

sorry if this is in the wrong board but searched and couldn’t find where else to put it. Quick back story, I have lived in my property for 4 years (all house here are bought) 
It’s quite a loud area but the last 18 months have been horrible. I have 2 sets of neighbours who are just horrid and have been making so much noise night and day my children can’t sleep. I finally got mad and complained to the council as they just denied any noise whenever I spoke to them. 

Problem is all I wanted was advice and the council decided to send them a letter saying someone has complained about noise. They have now put this all over Facebook so the other neighbours can see. Me getting slated really. They have said they know who it is and they will find out through the freedom of information act as they have friends who work in the council who can help them find out. They have been even louder. I phoned the council last week and said I thought complaints were confidential as there’s serious risk of harm if they find out it was me and as a single mum with 2 young kids I’m so scared. They have now said it’s possible they may get to know who it was. How is this if I was promised everything I said was confidential and they won’t find out it was me.
can they really find out? 

user1977

marbie said:

They have now said it’s possible they may get to know who it was. 

By what method? It shouldn't be released via FOI. Do they perhaps just mean by a process of guesswork/elimination?

amexblue

So they said they know who it is and they will find out through FOI? Either they know or they don't? I think they are just guessing. It's possible they might suspect but you have to pay for a request. Are they likely to waste their money? Why don't you show the council their post claiming they have friends at the council who can breach data protection and feed them confidential information? That should look good.

user1977

amexblue said:

you have to pay for a request.

No you don't. But as I said, it's not the sort of info which would be disclosed anyway.

marbie

user1977 said:

marbie said:

They have now said it’s possible they may get to know who it was. 

By what method? It shouldn't be released via FOI. Do they perhaps just mean by a process of guesswork/elimination?

Not sure. Their post was public and their friend commented saying he can help them get more information and also help draft a letter up to say it was done out of spite (which it definitely wasnt)
I have looked up the freedom of  information act and can’t find out if it’s possible for them to get my name. It’s either me or 2 other people. One of them quickly responded to the post saying it wasn’t me so they have just decided it’s me. Wish I hadn’t even bothered and just sold up 

marbie

amexblue said:

So they said they know who it is and they will find out through FOI? Either they know or they don't? I think they are just guessing. It's possible they might suspect but you have to pay for a request. Are they likely to waste their money? Why don't you show the council their post claiming they have friends at the council who can breach data protection and feed them confidential information? That should look good.

They don’t know 100% but guessed it and think they just want it confirmed to then blast my name all over social Media. Petrified in my own home for fear of what they are gonna do. I don’t even think their friends at the council could even access who it was but then I don’t work at the council 

hannahcolobus

You could also deny it? 

They won’t find out via a freedom of information request. I would screenshot the posts and go back to the council and explain why you are rightly very worried about how this is unfolding. 

DE_612183

hannahcolobus said:

You could also deny it? 

They won’t find out via a freedom of information request. I would screenshot the posts and go back to the council and explain why you are rightly very worried about how this is unfolding. 

This is a good idea - you could also say you had a contact in the council...

Section62

marbie said:

They have said they know who it is and they will find out through the freedom of information act as they have friends who work in the council who can help them find out.

I think they are bluffing.  You don't need friends who work for a council to find out information through FOI.  Any information which isn't available through FOI or published already shouldn't be released to the public by anyone.

amexblue said:

...It's possible they might suspect but you have to pay for a request. Are they likely to waste their money?

You don't have to pay for a FOI request unless the work required to provide the information is excessive - assessed by the cost exceeding the "appropriate limit".  Responding to the question "Who made the complaint?" won't exceed the "appropriate limit", but the council should apply one of the exemptions to allow them to not give that information.

OP, if I were you I would found out who the council's "monitoring officer" is (they are usually a solicitor working in the legal department) and email them directly with a screenshot of the claims "to have friends".  It is likely to be a bluff, but the monitoring officer can remind the officers who have access to the relevant information that they are not allowed to release it to "friends", and the consequences for them if they do/did.

If nothing else, contacting the Monitoring Officer will ensure that if the situation escalates and ultimately you need to make a complaint to the Ombudsman, the council will be unable to deny that they were aware of a risk of staff leaking information to a friend involved in the dispute.

Section62

DE_612183 said:

hannahcolobus said:

You could also deny it? 

They won’t find out via a freedom of information request. I would screenshot the posts and go back to the council and explain why you are rightly very worried about how this is unfolding. 

This is a good idea - you could also say you had a contact in the council...

I wouldn't do this.

On the one hand it puts the OP in the same position as the neighbours making (possibly untrue) claims of unlawful/inappropriate influence over the council's decisions and actions.

On the other hand it would confirm that the OP has been speaking to the council, and hence incriminating themselves in the eyes of the neighbours.

macman

if you are being threatened, whether on social media or by some other method, then report it to the police. 
Any LA staff accessing or leaking such info would be subject to disciplinary procedures and probably dismissed, so no one with any sense would do that. it's just bluster.
They're probably aggrieved because you reported it to the LA rather than complaining to them directly. But presumably it's not difficult for them to work out who it is without relying on leaks from the LA.