The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council's s.202 Housing Act 1996 suitability review of temporary accommodation. Ms X was given the opportunity to appeal matters in court. The events took place between 2022 and 2024 rendering the complaint out of time, and in any event we could not achieve the outcome Ms X seeks.
The complaint
Ms X complained about the outcome of a s.202 review of a suitablility of temporary accommodation which she says should have resulted in her being awarded compensation referred to in a previous Ombudsman decision. She says that the Council need to fulfil the payment reflected by of the Ombudsman’s decision on her complaint, which stated £200.00 per month should be made if the accommodation is deemed unsuitable.
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: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(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 and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X complained to us in September 2025 and again in November 2025, about events which took place between 2022 and 2024 related to her temporary accommodation. Ms X complained to us previously in May 2022, and our findings outlined several actions which the Council was required to take. As part of the finding, the Council was required to conduct a suitability review of the temporary accommodation at that time. The requirement was: “Conclude Ms X’s suitability review of her current temporary accommodation.
If the Council decides her accommodation is unsuitable it should move Ms X without delay. It should pay £20 per month from the date Ms X requested the suitability review until she is moved to alternative accommodation.”
However, the suitability review was completed in November 2022 by the temporary accommodation team, and the decision concluded that the accommodation was suitable for her household. She was not entitled to the compensation under the formula which we described should the review be successful.
In July 2024, the Council contacted Ms X and her solicitor by email because she had applied to the court to challenge the review decision under s.204 of the Housing Act 1996. The Council advised that it would withdraw the previous s.202 suitability review decision, which had concluded the accommodation was suitable and carry out a fresh review.
Before the review could be concluded Ms X was served a notice to quit by the landlord of her accommodation in September. The Council offered her alternative accommodation before possession was obtained. As a result, the new review was discontinued because she was suitably rehoused.
Accordingly, no payment was made under the Ombudsman’s original decision, which provides £200.00 per month if the accommodation is found to be unsuitable. The original review concluded that the accommodation was suitable and no further review or appeal changed this decision.
We will not investigate this complaint which concerns events which took place outside the12-month period for investigating complaints. It was reasonable for Miss X to challenge the review outcome of November 2022 at the time and we would have advised this had she complained to us then or in 2024. No compensation was due because the accommodation was deemed to be suitable under the review.
The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wished 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.
Final decision
We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council's decision-making during a s.202 Housing Act 1996 suitability review of temporary accommodation. Ms X was given the opportunity to appeal matters in court. The events took place between 2022 and 2024 rendering the complaint out of time, and in any event we could not achieve the outcome Ms X seeks.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman