The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council prevented the complainant from bidding for a permanent home. This is because most of the complaint is late and because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, says the Council prevented him bidding for a permanent home. He says the Council removed him from the housing register in 2013 and did not tell him. Mr X wants the Council to reinstate the application.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code and comments Mr X made in reply to a draft of this decision.
My assessment
The Council helped Mr X get a private sector home in 2008. It placed him in band D on the housing register because he was adequately housed. Mr X says there was disrepair in the property which the Council did not help with. Mr X says he should have been in a higher band.
Mr X left the property in 2013 and lived abroad for a few months. The Council closed the housing application. Due to a lack of records, as it only keeps records for seven years, it cannot tell if it sent a notification letter. Mr X says the Council should not have closed the application in 2013.
Mr X returned to the UK in 2013 and lived with his mother. He was on the housing register from 2015 until 2021 when he made a homelessness application. Mr X bidded for properties between 2015 and 2021 but was not successful.
The Council accepted the homelessness application in 2021 and placed Mr X in band C on the register. In 2022 it offered a private rented property; it ended its homelessness duty and closed the housing register application. The Council told Mr X he can make a new housing application if his circumstances change and he has a housing need.
I will not investigate the band D priority in 2009 or the decision to close the application in 2013 because they are late complaints. Mr X could have complained about his priority in 2009 or complained in 2013 about the closed application. He knew in 2015 that his new application had not been backdated so he could have complained then. I have not seen any good reason to investigate such late complaints. In addition, we could not carry out an investigation because the Council destroys records after seven years.
Mr X says the Council should have offered him a home because he had been on the register since 2015. Again, parts of this complaint are late but, in addition, being on the housing register offers no guarantee the Council will offer a property.
I will not investigate the 2022 decision to close the housing application because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. This policy says the Council will close an application once someone has been accommodated through a Council scheme. The Council helped Mr X secure his current home and the Council’s decision to close the application reflects the policy. The law allows a council to discharge its homelessness duty by offering a property in the private sector. If Mr X did not think the property was suitable he could have refused it or asked for a review. But, he accepted it which means he currently has no housing need and cannot join the housing register. His previous housing applications have no bearing on this.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because part of the complaint is late and because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman