The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about housing allocations because it is reasonable to expect Mrs Y to appeal to the County Court.
The complaint
Mrs Y complained the Council has wrongly deemed her current accommodation to be suitable for her family, despite her and her children’s disabilities, impact on mental health and difficulty in travelling between the accommodation and her support network and the children’s schools.
Mrs Y says this is causing a significant impact on her and her children’s mental health and wellbeing and impacting on her health.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information Mrs Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The law says councils must ensure all accommodation provided to homeless applicants is suitable for the needs of the applicant and members of their household. This duty applies to interim accommodation and accommodation provided under the main housing duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.2) Homelessness temporary accommodation must be legally suitable. (Housing Act 1996, section 206) Anyone who believes their temporary accommodation is unsuitable can ask the Council to review the accommodation’s suitability. (Housing Act 1996, section 202) If the Council’s review decides the accommodation is unsuitable, the Council must provide suitable accommodation. If the review decides the accommodation is suitable, the applicant has the right to appeal to the county court on a point of law. (Housing Act 1996, section 204) Mrs Y has the right to appeal to the county court about the Council’s final decision on suitability of her accommodation. If she has not yet been issued with that decision, this would be a separate complaint she would need to make to the Council initially. Mrs Y may use the appeals process through the county court to try to appeal the decision on a point of law.
There might be some cost to court action. However, that does not mean it is unreasonable to take court action. There is often financial assistance to those of a low income from HM Courts and Tribunal Service and it may be possible for the law clinic helping Mrs Y, or another similar service, to apply for legal aid.
Also, reasonable adjustments can be made for access to the service if necessary. It is therefore reasonable for Mrs Y to be expected to use her right to go to court about this matter.
As the law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court, and it is reasonable to expect Mrs Y to use this right, we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint because it is reasonable to expect Mrs Y to appeal to the County Court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman