The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the suitability of temporary accommodation and accommodation offered by the Council to end its housing duty. The complaint about temporary accommodation is late and Ms X had a right of appeal about the suitability of the accommodation offered in 2024 which it was reasonable for her to use.
The complaint
Ms X complains she was placed in unsuitable temporary accommodation in 2023 and then offered unsuitable accommodation to end the housing duty in 2024. She says this caused distress and impacted on her mental health.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) 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 it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) 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 provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the suitability of temporary accommodation offered in 2023. This complaint is late and there is no good reason to investigate now.
The Council offered Ms X settled accommodation to end the main housing duty in April 2024. We will also not investigate this complaint. Ms X had a statutory right of review about the suitability of the accommodation offered and if she did not believe it was suitable, it was reasonable for her to request a review at the time. If she was dissatisfied with the outcome of the review, she would then have had a right of appeal to the county court.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. Part of the complaint is late and she had a statutory right of review and appeal against the suitability of accommodation offered in 2024 which it was reasonable for her to use.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman