Summary: Ms B complains that she needs to move to a more suitable property, but the Council has not responded to her requests to move. The Ombudsman has found the Council at fault for its delay in offering Ms B support to join the housing register and for not considering her complaint. The Council has agreed to remedy the injustice caused by providing Ms B with support to join the housing register, making a financial payment for avoidable distress and reviewing its complaint policy and procedures.

The complaint

1. Ms B complains that she needs to move to a more suitable property, but the Council has not responded to her requests to move.
2. Ms B says the unsuitability of her property has caused her to have accidents which have caused injury.

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What I have investigated

3. I have investigated how the Council allocated and offered a property to Ms B.
4. I have not investigated the complaint Ms B has made about outstanding repairs on the property. This is a matter for the Housing Ombudsman.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. 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)
6. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended)
7. 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

8. I considered:
• Ms B’s complaint and the information she provided;
• documents supplied by the Council;
• relevant legislation and guidelines; and
• the Council’s policies and procedures.
9. Ms B and the Council commented on a draft decision and their comments were considered before making a final decision.

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What I found

Legislation and Guidance

10. A Council, which is a housing authority, must have an allocation scheme for deciding priorities and allocating accommodation. The scheme must give reasonable preference to applicants who fall within reasonable preference categories. (Housing Act 1996 s.166A (1,3) and s.167 (1, 2))
11. I have set out below some key points from the Council’s Housing Allocation Scheme 2015.
12. The Council’s housing register is a list of:
• First time applicants (including those to whom the Council owes a full main duty under the Homeless legislation) for a Council and or Registered Provider property.
• Council and housing association tenants wishing to transfer to other accommodation.
13. To apply for housing individuals should complete a housing application form.
14. The Housing Act 1996 requires the Council to ensure that any necessary advice, information and assistance is made available free of charge to persons in its district wishing to make an application for the allocation of accommodation. In order to ensure all vulnerable applicants are given assistance accessing the Kent Homechoice scheme the Council will:
• Identify those who are likely to have difficulty making an application without assistance.
• Identify the appropriate assistance required by the applicant.
• Monitor applicants placed as having a requirement for assistance to ensure active participation in the scheme.

What happened

15. This chronology includes key events in this case and does not cover everything that happened.

Housing

16. Ms B is in her 80s and lives alone.
17. Ms B joined the housing register in April 2018. She told the Council she wanted to downsize and move to a bungalow in road C. The Council said it would bid on properties in road C on her behalf. Between April 2018 and January 2019 only one property became available. The Council bid on Ms B’s behalf, but she was not successful.
18. In January 2019, Ms B widened the areas she would consider moving to. The Council was successful in bidding on a bungalow for Ms B in an area she identified, road D. The Council arranged for Ms B to view the property before she accepted it.
19. In February 2019, Ms B moved to the bungalow in road D.
20. Ms B found it difficult to feel at home in the property. Ms B told the Council she needed repairs carried out, she was worried about intruders and items in the property were too high for her to reach.
21. The Council visited Ms B to discuss repairs and reported them to East Kent Housing. It visited Ms B with the police who found no evidence she had been a victim of a crime. The Council also arranged for safe and well visits to be completed. The Council advised Ms B to speak to her GP about her anxieties.
22. In May 2019, Ms B’s MP told the Council she would like to join the housing register and needed support to do this as she cannot use a computer. The MP asked the Council if it could arrange for an officer to support Ms B to do this. The Council passed this request on to East Kent Housing tenancy sustainment team to action.
23. In June 2019 East Kent Housing’s tenancy sustainment team told the Council it would not support Ms B to join the housing register as this was a tenancy issue and not for them. In February 2020, Ms B was still not on the housing register.

Complaint

24. The Ombudsman wrote to the Council in June 2019 and asked it to consider Ms B’s complaint. The Ombudsman gave the Council a deadline of September 2019. The Ombudsman chased the Council for the outcome of its complaint procedure in October 2019. The Council has not provided any evidence it considered Ms B’s complaint.

Analysis

25. Ms B wanted to downsize and move to a new property. In 2018/19 the Council bid on her behalf. In January 2019, it secured a bungalow for her in her desired location. The Council arranged for Ms B to view the property and she accepted it. It was Ms B’s choice to accept the bungalow and there was no fault by the Council.
26. Ms B struggled to settle into the bungalow. In May 2019 Ms B’s MP asked the Council to support her to join the housing register. Ms B’s MP was clear that Ms B would have difficulty making an application without assistance and identified the support she needed. However, as of February 2020, the Council had not supported Ms B to join the housing register; this was fault.
27. The Council did not consider Ms B’s complaint despite being requested to do so by the Ombudsman; this was fault.
28. During this time, Ms B told the Council how unhappy she was in her bungalow, often calling in tears. The Council has recorded Ms B’s distress and vulnerability. The delay by the Council in supporting her to join the housing register and its lack of response to her complaint caused Ms B added avoidable distress. Also, Ms B has lost the opportunity to bid on properties from May 2019 onwards.

Agreed action

29. Within one month of the final decision, the Council will:
• Apologise to Ms B.
• Help Ms B to join the housing register and backdate her application to May 2019.
• If Ms B could have successfully bid on any suitable properties from May 2019 onwards, direct match her to the next suitable property.
• Pay Ms B £200 for the avoidable distress caused by the Council’s delay and its failure to process her complaint.
• Update the Council’s complaint policy and procedures to include measures for dealing with premature complaints raised by the Ombudsman.
30. In making these recommendations, I have considered the Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies.
31. The Council should provide the Ombudsman with evidence these actions have been completed.

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Final decision

32. I have completed my investigation and uphold Ms B’s complaint. Ms B has been caused an injustice by the actions of the Council. The Council has agreed to take action to remedy that injustice.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

33. I have not investigated the complaint Ms B has made about outstanding repairs. This is a matter for the Housing Ombudsman.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman