Summary: Miss C complains about the way the Council dealt with her housing transfer request and says her family have lived in unsuitable accommodation for longer than necessary which is affecting their health. The Ombudsman has found no evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Miss C, complains about the way the Council dealt with her housing transfer request. Miss C says because of the Council’s fault her family have had to live in unsuitable accommodation for longer than necessary which is affecting their health.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I read the papers provided by Miss C and discussed the complaint with her. I have considered some information from the Council and provided a copy of this to Miss C after removing third party details. I have explained my draft decision to Miss C and the Council and considered the comments received before reaching my final decision.

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What I found

Background and legislation

5. Every local housing authority must publish an allocations scheme that sets out how it prioritises applicants, and its procedures for allocating housing.  All allocations must be made in strict accordance with the published scheme.  (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(1) & (14))
6. An allocations scheme must give reasonable preference to applicants in the following categories:

• homeless people;
• people in insanitary, overcrowded or unsatisfactory housing;
• people who need to move on medical or welfare grounds;
• people who need to move to avoid hardship to themselves or others;

(Housing Act 1996, section 166A(3))

Key events

7. The Council administers a Housing Register for people in need of housing. This includes a transfer list for existing tenants of the Council (or registered social landlord if nominated to their tenancy by the Council or through a successful bid for a property advertised through the Council). The Council operates a choice-based lettings system and uses a points system to assess the priority of each application. If two or more applicants have the same priority points, then preference will be given to the applicant that has been on the register longest.
8. The Council’s allocation policy provides priority for medical circumstances as set out below:

Category A: There is a critical need to move. The current housing situation is seriously detrimental to health and interferes with quality of life to an intolerable degree. (500 points)

Category B: An applicant and/or a member of their household are experiencing serious difficulty as a result of their current housing situation daily. Moving to alternative accommodation would alleviate the impact on health. (100 points)

Category C: An applicant and/or member of their household’s health are being significantly affected by their current housing and would improve if they moved. (50 points)

Category D: An applicant and/or member of their household’s health are being affected by their housing and would improve if they moved. (20 points)

Category E An applicant and/or member of their household’s health are not being affected by their current housing or their health is being affected by their current housing but would not improve by moving to alternative accommodation (0)

9. The Council’s allocation policy provides that a couple with 1 child will have a 2 bedroom need and that:

“Dependent children are defined as those for whom the applicant would normally receive Child Benefit, and who are living with the applicant as their main home… The term dependent child includes children who are adopted or otherwise defined in legislation but does not include children who do not live permanently in the applicant’s home or who have their main home elsewhere (e.g. access arrangements).”

10. Miss C made a transfer application to the Council in September 2017. She lives in a first floor one bedroom flat. The application included Miss C, her partner and daughter. The application also advised three stepchildren stayed at the property every other weekend. There is a question asking if the current accommodation is affecting the medical condition of anyone on the application which is answered ‘no’ and the section for medical evidence is marked non-applicable.
11. Miss C’s application did not include all the necessary supporting information and the Council sought further information which it received in January 2018 when it registered the application.
12. Miss C completed a change of circumstances form in April 2018 to say her daughter’s asthma was being affected by damp conditions in the property. The Council visited the property in April and noted only minor mould and that Miss C was doing all she could to minimise the problem. The Council’s independent medical adviser considered the information but did not award any priority and Miss C’s application remained as Category E.
13. Miss C provided further information in May and June including photographs and a letter of support from her doctor. The Council’s independent medical adviser subsequently awarded her application Category D medical priority.
14. Miss C’s doctor wrote a further letter of support. The medical adviser considered the level of medication and input did not support Miss C’s daughter’s health as being significantly affected and so did not increase the medical priority which remained Category D.
15. The Council confirmed Miss C’s application has 110 priority points which are made up as follows:

15 lacking a bedroom

20 Category D medical

10 social and welfare level 6

30 local connection

15 for one year on list

20 employment

16. The Council has provided details of Miss C’s bidding history and its shortlists for the properties with details of the successful bidders.
17. Miss C has questioned why she was offered a particular property in November when other applicants had higher priority. The Council has provided the shortlist for the property and set out the reasons why those placed higher than Miss C were not offered the property. Miss C subsequently completed an affordability assessment by telephone, and it was confirmed the property was not affordable and so her bid was not progressed.
18. Miss C also queried why her own medical priority was included within the existing medical priority points awarded to her application. The Council’s policy is clear that medical priority points are awarded if an applicant and/or a member of the household’s health is affected by the current accommodation.

My consideration

19. The Ombudsman may not find fault with a council’s assessment of a housing applicant’s priority if it has carried this out in line with its published allocations scheme. The Ombudsman recognises that the demand for social housing far outstrips the supply of properties in many areas. He may not find fault with a council for failing to re-house someone, if it has prioritised applicants and allocated properties according to its published lettings scheme policy.
20. I have seen no evidence that the Council has failed to consider Miss C’s priority in line with its allocation policy or that it has failed to allocate properties according to that policy.

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Final decision

21. I have completed my investigation as I have found no evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman