Summary: The complainant says the Council is at fault in how it decided she does not qualify to join its Housing Register. The Ombudsman found no evidence of fault by the Council and therefore he ended his consideration of this complaint.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall call Miss X, says the Council is at fault in the way it decided she does not qualify to join its Housing Register.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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)
4. 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

5. As part of my investigation I discussed the complaint with Miss X and considered information she provided. I also made enquiries of the Council. I set out my initial thoughts in a draft decision letter and considered her comments in response.

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What I found

Background

6. The Council’s Housing Allocations Scheme contains a financial qualification criterion. Applicants whose income, savings and assets are above the level set by the Council will not be able to join the Housing Register as they will be expected to meet their own housing needs. This is because of the severe shortage of social and affordable rented properties in the Borough.
7. The current threshold is £36,000. This is the level at which the Council considers an applicant can afford to rent a private property with average rents in the Borough. The Council reviews this annually.
8. The Council asks applicants about their income, savings and other assets so it can assess if they meet the threshold.
9. Applicants who deliberately deplete savings or move them into the account of other family members may be disqualified under the financial qualification criterion.
10. Any applicant who cannot provide satisfactory evidence of their household income, savings and assets will not be able to join the Housing Register.

Summary of events

11. Miss X lives in privately rented accommodation. In 2018 she applied to join the Council’s Housing Register as her current accommodation was unsuitable for her. Due to a medical condition, she requires ground floor accommodation.
12. Miss X’s application was unsuccessful because she had not lived in the Borough long enough. This is a requirement for joining the Council’s Housing Register. She was advised to reapply in March 2019 when she would meet this criterion.
13. In September 2018, Miss X received a pension payment of £67,000.
14. Miss X reapplied to join the Housing Register on 1 March 2019. She provided details of her income and, pension. She said she had no savings.
15. However, bank statements provided in support of her application detailed the pension payment she received in September 2018. They showed she made payments of £30,000 to her father (to repay money he had loaned her), £5,500 to her child (which was subsequently paid back to her and used for a holiday) and £15,000 on other expenses including purchasing household items and clearing other debts.
16. The Council asked Miss X to provide evidence the money paid to her father was for a loan. It also asked her to clarify what happened to the remainder of her pension payment.
17. Miss X said she had no proof of the loan from her father as the money have been given to her many years ago in various amounts. She invited the Council to contact her father about the matter and provided his telephone number. Miss X did not explain where the remainder of the pension payment was but said she had less than £6,000 left.
18. The Council told Miss X that, as she could not provide proof of the loan or how she spent the remainder, she would not be able to join the Housing Register.
19. Unhappy with the decision Miss X appealed to the Council. She did not provide any new information in support of her appeal.
20. In the absence of any evidence, the Council was not satisfied there was a loan which needed to be paid back. It also said the way Miss X had spent her pension payment in a short space of time was evidence of a deliberate depletion of assets. For these reasons, it upheld its original decision.
21. Miss X remained unhappy and approached us.

Analysis

22. It is not for me to decide if the Council made the right decisions. Rather, I have considered whether the Council gave a reasoned justification for its decisions.
23. The Council’s Housing Allocations Policy clearly states that applicants who cannot provide evidence of their savings or assets will not be able to join the Housing Register.
24. Moreover £30,000 is a substantial amount of money. I do not consider it unreasonable for the Council to expect there to be some evidence of the loan and repayment terms or arrangements.
25. As Miss X has not been able to provide any evidence demonstrating her father had loaned her £30,000, I cannot find its decision to be at fault.
26. I note Miss X says the Council did not contact her father about the loan despite her providing his phone number. The Council has confirmed that it did not contact him because it required written proof of the debt and repayment terms. As a conversation with Miss X’s father would not provide this, I do not consider the Council’s actions amount to fault.
27. Miss X says the Council has not properly calculated her expenditure and that she does not have £15000 of the pension payment left. However it was for Miss X to demonstrate how she spent this money and to provide evidence of this to the Council.
28. In her complaint Miss X says the Council should assess her application on the amount of her current savings. I do not agree. The Council’s allocations policy is clear that applicants must be able to account for their savings and Miss X has failed to do so.
29. Miss X says the Council has called her liar and treated her like a conman. While I appreciate why Miss X might feel this is the case, the Council has not called her either. Without evidence to support her explanation of how the money has been spent, the Council is entitled to conclude she has acted contrary to the requirements of its housing allocations policy.
30. Lastly Miss X says she should be allowed to join the Housing Register as she meets its other criteria. However, Miss X’s inability to the satisfy the financial criteria of the Council’s policy means she is disqualified regardless of whether she meets the other criteria.

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Final decision

31. I have ended my investigation of this complaint as I have not found evidence of fault by the Council.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman