The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint from Ms X about the Council’s refusal to accept Ms Z on its housing register. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant investigating.
The complaint
Ms X complains on behalf of her relative, Ms Z, that the Council refused to accept Ms Z on its housing register and failed to provide clear reasons for its refusal.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We investigate 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 or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code and the Council’s Housing Allocations Scheme (from January 2023).
My assessment
Ms Z applied to join the Council’s housing register based on her family connection with Ms X.
In November 2024, the Council emailed Ms Z with details of the evidence she needed to provide to show she met the family connection criteria.
In December, the Council wrote to Ms Z to say it had closed her application because she had not sent the required evidence. The Council upheld this decision following a review because Ms Z had not provided proof of Ms X’s five-year residency in its area.
We will not investigate. This is because the evidence I have seen shows the Council gave Ms Z clear information on the proof she needed to send. It also gave her the reasons why it had refused to accept her on its housing register. The Council’s refusal decision is in line with its Housing Allocations Scheme.
Ms X says that she sent the evidence to the Council several times. But, Ms X has not evidenced to us that she or Ms Z provided the relevant proof before the Council’s review decision. For these reasons, there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify investigating.
It is open to Ms Z to reapply to join the Council’s housing register if she thinks she has the relevant proof.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman