The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Miss X’s housing application and its provision of suitable temporary accommodation. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Miss X complained about the Council’s assessment of her housing application. She says she should be given permanent accommodation under the allocation scheme because she is due to be evicted from her temporary accommodation. She also says her current temporary accommodation is unsuitable and she should be offered permanent accommodation, not an alternative temporary home.
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) 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 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
Miss X says she was moved to her current temporary accommodation in 2021. She says the property is unsuitable due to her family’s medical needs and that her private landlord is now seeking possession of the property. Miss X could have challenged the suitability of the accommodation offered to her by the Council in 2021 under s.202 of the Housing Act 1996, as she did with a previous offer in 2020.
We will not investigate this aspect of her complaint because it concerns matters which she was aware of more than 12 months before she submitted a complaint to us. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wish to complain about, not when they complained to the Council or it issued its final response. We would expect someone to complain to us within a year, even if they were dissatisfied with the time the complaints procedure was taking.
Miss X says that she submitted an Occupational therapist’s report on her housing situation in 2023 and the Council only increased her housing banding in response. She wants the Council to provide her with an offer of permanent housing due to her increased housing need.
We expect a council to assess any changes in housing need by applicants according to its published allocations policy. The Council has done this and increased Miss X’s banding to Band 2 urgent following the report and a medical assessment.
The Council has explained to Miss X that the homeless duty which it still owes to her is separate from her priority on the housing waiting list. It says it will have to provide her with alternative accommodation before she is evicted from her current temporary accommodation. This does not have to be in social housing or a permanent tenancy as Miss X is wanting. As a homeless applicant she is also entitled to be on the housing list and to bid on vacancies with other homeless applicants.
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 Miss X’s housing application and its provision of suitable temporary accommodation. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman