Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions relating to a property X was evicted from. Nor will we consider the Council’s response to concerns about that property after they were evicted. We have already decided not to investigate part of the complaint in an earlier investigation and will not reconsider that decision. The Council’s actions more recently have not caused X any significant injustice.

The complaint

1. X complains the Council did not do enough to support them while they were living in supported emergency accommodation (property A), both to protect them from an unlawful eviction and their living conditions. X also complains that when they asked the Council to check on the living conditions of Property A, it did not carry out the visits it said it had. X is concerned about the Council’s actions here.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. X complained the Council was at fault because it had placed them in supported emergency accommodation (SEA) and, in early 2025, they said their landlord unlawfully evicted them from this property. X was also unhappy with some of the living conditions at Property A while they were a resident there.
5. I will not consider this part of X’s complaint. In March 2026, we issued a decision on an earlier complaint X made about this matter, setting out our reasons for why we would not consider their complaint about the Council’s actions here.
6. In mid-2025, the Council considered a complaint from X about their living conditions and a concern they raised because the Council has stopped using Property A as a placement for people with a specific housing need.
7. In December 2025, the Council said it had inspected Property A and had spoken to residents in place at that time. It said it was satisfied it did not need to take any further action because the housing provider met the requirements of an SEA. X said they did not believe the Council carried out the visits it said it did.
8. X was no longer a resident at Property A when the Council re-visited and was therefore unaffected by the Council’s actions, or the fault she alleges in how it carried out an inspection. Because there is no evidence X has suffered a significant injustice, I will not consider this part of their complaint further.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate X’s complaint because we have already decided on an earlier part of their complaint and there is no significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman