The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about housing allocations. The complaint is late and there is no good reason to investigate now.
The complaint
Miss X complains the Council offered her a flat in 2020 but then did not allocate the property to her. She also complains that she applied for a different property for nearly four years, but the Council ignored her contacts and then allocated the property to someone else.
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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We will not investigate this complaint as it is late. Miss X has known about both issues raised in her complaint for over 12 months. She could have brought her complaint to us sooner and there is no good reason for us to investigate now.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is late and there is no good reason to investigate now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman