Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the housing register because it is a late complaint. In addition, he cannot achieve the outcome the complainant would like.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, complains that mistakes by the Council 10 years ago mean she cannot access the housing register. She wants the Council to let her join the 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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if we believe we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I read the complaint and the Council’s responses. I considered email correspondence between the Council and Ms X’s MP. I read the allocations policy and comments Ms X’s adviser made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Housing allocation policy

5. The Council introduced a new policy in 2015. The policy says people can only join the housing register if they have a housing need. The policy explains what counts as a housing need. Someone might have a housing need if the conditions in a property were so poor that the Council serves a hazard notice and it is not possible for the person to continue to live in the property.

What happened

6. In 2009 the Council helped Ms X to find a home with a Housing Association. It is a two bedroom flat. Ms X still lives there were her two children. The Council wrote to Ms X in 2009 to say it had closed her file. Ms X says she did not see that letter until 2017.
7. In about 2010 Ms X says she joined the housing register. She was given a bidding number but was never able to log on and bid for a new home. Ms X says the Council failed to register her application correctly.
8. Ms X called the Council in July 2015 to ask why her case was closed. The Council told her it was closed when she moved into her home in 2009.
9. Ms X says that in 2017 an officer told her that the Council had wrongly removed her from the housing register. The Council has no records about this comment or records to confirm that an error was made.
10. Ms X applied to join the housing register in July 2018. The Council rejected the application because she is adequately housed.
11. Ms X wants the Council to allow her to join the housing register. She says it removed her in error. She says her rent is high and there is damp in some rooms.

Assessment

12. I will not start an investigate because this is a late complaint. Ms X says she joined the register about 10 years ago but was never able to bid. It is reasonable to expect that she would have followed this up at the time. If she had done this she could either have corrected any technical issues or dealt with a decision to remove her from the register. Ms X had further opportunities to complain in 2015, 2017 and July 2018. But, she did not complain to the Ombudsman until September 2019. I have not seen any good reason to accept such a late complaint. Ms X’s adviser is critical of the Council’s actions when it offered the flat in 2009. But, again, it is too late to investigate what happened 10 years ago. If Ms X was unhappy with the Council’s actions in 2009 she could have complained at that time.
13. I also will not start an investigation because I cannot achieve the outcome Ms X would like. People can only join the housing register if they have a housing need. Ms X has not had a housing need, as defined by the allocations policy, since she moved into her home. She is not eligible to join the register and I cannot ask the Council to act in a way which would be contrary to the policy. I appreciate Ms X says there is damp in the flat. However, that is not a qualifying factor for the register unless the conditions are so bad that the Council issues a hazard notice and it is not possible for Ms X to remain in the flat. Ms X needs to contact her landlord about the damp and any other disrepair.

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Final decision

14. I will not start an investigation because this is a late complaint and because I cannot achieve the outcome Ms X would like.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman