Summary: Mr D complains that the Council has not dealt with his application for housing properly. The Council did not consider all the evidence provided by Mr D during his appeal. The Council has apologised to Mr D and said it will review Mr D’s medical priority. The Council has also agreed to reopen Mr D’s housing application.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr D, complains the Council has not dealt with his housing needs correctly because it:
• has not followed its allocations policy.
• has not taken account of Mr D’s mental health and individual needs
• told him he had arrears and that he would be reinstated on the housing bidding list if the arrears were cleared, and then
• has not handled Mr D’s complaint properly because it did not consider information Mr D’s mother provided during complaint
2. Mr D says he has suffered distress, he is unable to bid for housing and he suffered financial injustice because he would have paid any arrears in instalments as opposed to a lump sum if the Council had not misinformed him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
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)
5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I spoke to Mr D and considered the details of his complaint as well as the Council’s response. I reviewed documents sent by the Council and Mr D.
7. Mr D and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

The Council’s allocations policy

8. The main housing applicant must have five years continuous residency in the borough at the point of application before they can join the housing register. The Council will undertake in depth checks to confirm address histories.
9. The Council will suspend applicants where there is any level of arrear (former or current) at the point of an offer, until the arrears are cleared or there has been a regular pattern of payment for six months.
10. The Council will remove applicants from the register if they move from the application address. If they move but still wish to remain on the Housing Register, they must inform the Access and Allocation Service. They will need to complete a new on-line housing application to show their current circumstances but will retain their original registration date if the Access and Allocation Service is notified promptly.
11. Applicants are required to inform the Council of any change of circumstances immediately. The onus is on applicants to inform The Council. Applicants must provide all information relevant to their application including any changes to their address including change of tenure.
12. Where an applicant, or a member of their household, develops a medical problem after joining the housing register they must let the Council know so that an assessment can be completed.

What happened

13. Mr D suffers from mental health problems. he made a housing application to the Council in 2012. At this time he owed arrears to the Council from a previous tenancy. He made bids for housing in 2017. Between 2017 and 2019 Mr D moved out of the Council’s area for some time.
14. Mr D made small regular payments towards arrears debt until September 2018, then 2 small payments in December 2018 and January 2019.
15. Mr D contacted the Council in July 2019 and began to bid for housing again. He bid for property one and was second on the list. The Council bypassed his bid because of his existing rent arrears and because he had not made regular payments for six continuous months. The Council suspended Mr D’s housing application and sent him a letter detailing his outstanding arrears.
16. Mr D paid off his arrears in full. In September 2019, the Council removed the suspension of Mr D’s housing application.
17. Mr D bid for property two and came third on the list. The Council conducted further eligibility checks and removed Mr D from the housing register as checks showed he had been resident out of the Council’s area.
18. Mr D’s mother emailed the Council referring to Mr D’s mental health problems, debt issues and gave an explanation of the reasons why he had moved out of the Council’s area.
19. Mr D’s mother emailed the Council again and requested a formal appeal. She queried dates the Council said Mr D lived outside its area, accepted Mr D should have told the Council about his address changes and again referred to Mr D’s diagnosed mental illness.
20. The Council considered Mr D’s appeal at a Case Review Panel. It did not uphold his appeal on the grounds of living outside the Council’s area. Mr D’s mother complained to the Council and said it didn’t reply to her representations, ignored issues she highlighted and that Mr D’s health was deteriorating.
21. The Council responded at stage one of its complaints process and did not uphold Mr D’s complaint. It sent him a medical assessment form to complete and return. Mr D asked the Council to escalate his complaint to stage two.
22. The Council responded at stage two of its complaints process. It did not uphold Mr D’s complaint about how it had dealt with his housing application but agreed that the Case Review Panel had not considered evidence about his mental health problems.

Analysis

23. The Council says it sent a letter to Mr D when he made his housing application informing him that he had to tell the Council about any change in circumstances. I have seen a template of the letter the Council says it sent. I am satisfied that Mr D was aware from 2012 that any changes to his circumstances needed to be reported to the Council.
24. Mr D agrees that he did not inform the Council about his changes of address.
25. Mr D does not dispute that he owed the Council a debt because of rent arrears from a previous tenancy.
26. The Council says it conducts eligibility checks when an application is made and when an applicant is shortlisted. The Council says the criteria for allocation is that applicants must first qualify for the size of the property, must have clear current/ former tenancy account and then further checks must establish applicant’s residency in the borough.
27. When Mr D bid for property 1, the Council did not carry out residency checks as he was identified to have existing rent arrears. When he bid for property 2, the Council did carry out residency checks because Mr D’s rent arrears had been cleared. The Council acted in accordance with its allocations policy when it suspended his housing application and when it cancelled his housing application. This is not fault by the Council.
28. Case notes provided by the Council show in July 2019 it told Mr D his suspension could not be removed until the arrears were cleared or regular payments had been made for six months. The Council informed Mr D correctly about how his arrears would affect his housing application. At this point the Council was not aware that Mr D had moved addresses because he had not provided that information and no checks concerning eligibility had been made because of Mr D’s rent arrears. The Council could not be expected to tell Mr D how information it did not know about would affect his application. This is not fault by the Council.
29. The Council has accepted that the Case Review Panel did not take Mr D’s mental health problems into account when it reviewed its decision to cancel Mr D’s housing application. This is fault by the Council. Mr D remains uncertain about what the outcome may have been if that information had been taken into account.
30. Due to the Covid19 crisis Mr D has been unable to provide documents from his doctor to support his complaint. I have seen a copy of the prescription for the medication he takes, which is commonly used to treat bi-polar disorder and severe depression. On the balance of probabilities, Mr D does suffer from mental health problems as stated to the Council.
31. The Council has told Mr D that if he had told it about his changes of address his application would not have been affected.
32. The Council has sent a medical assessment form to Mr D for him to complete. It says this will allow his mental health to be assessed since he has provided new information about his health, as ‘his application could be reassessed under the Reasonable Preference category.’ Mr D has not yet completed and returned the medical form.
33. The Council sent Mr D its stage two complaint response saying it has cancelled his application, there are no grounds to reopen it and the medical assessment form will allow the Council to establish Mr D’s medical needs and priority.
34. If Mr D provides information on the medical assessment form this will allow the Council to make a decision as to whether his housing priority needs to change in the future. It will not address the Council’s failure to consider his health issues at the Case Review Panel. I do not consider that this is a suitable remedy for the fault I have identified.

Agreed action

35. The Council has already apologised to Mr D. To remedy the outstanding injustice caused by the fault I have identified the Council has agreed to take the following action within four weeks of my final decision:
• Reopen Mr D’s housing application.

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Final decision

36. I have found fault by the Council because it did not take Mr D’s mental health into account when it reviewed its decision to cancel his housing application. I have now completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman