The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Mrs X complained about the Council’s assessment of her housing application. She says that her family is overcrowded in her housing association home and that they are unable to live together in their current circumstances. She wants the Council to re-house her in a 3-bedroom property.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council’s response. I have also considered the Council’s housing allocations policy.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X is a housing association tenant and she applied to the Council’s housing register for a transfer to a bigger property because she says her family is overcrowded. She was awarded Band C2 priority for being short of one bedroom. She says that she has been unsuccessful in bidding on this priority level and believes she should have higher priority to keep her family together.
Mrs X is in the correct banding for her overcrowding circumstances according to the Council’s housing allocations policy. The Council has advised her to seek a mutual exchange through her social housing landlord in order to increase her chances of moving. She has reported disrepair in her current home but this is a matter for her housing association landlord to resolve.
We cannot investigate complaints about housing association and council social landlords with regard to tenancy matters and disrepair. This falls within the remit of the Housing Ombudsman Service.
There is no evidence that Mrs X housing application has been incorrectly banded for her circumstances.
The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
The Ombudsman may not find fault with a council’s assessment of a housing application/ a housing applicant’s priority if it has carried this out in line with its published allocations scheme. We recognise that the demand for social housing far outstrips the supply of properties in many areas.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman