Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision that the complainant cannot join the housing register. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, disagrees with the Council’s decision that he cannot join the housing register. Mr X wants to move to a smaller home.

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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 it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and Mr X’s appeal. I considered the Council’s appeal reply and the allocations policy. I invited Mr X to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Allocations policy

4. The Council allocates housing in accordance with the allocations policy. The policy says people can only join the housing register if they have a housing need as defined by the policy.

What happened

5. Mr X lives in a three bedroom flat which he rents from a private landlord. He applied to join the housing register. At that time he was living with his wife and two adult children. Mr X wanted to join the register because his son was due to move out over the summer and Mr X wants to move to a two bedroom flat which would be cheaper to rent.
6. The Council refused the application because it decided Mr X has no housing need. The Council explained that having a spare room is not a housing need. It also said that most of the rent is covered by Universal Credit.

What happened

7. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The policy says people can join the housing register if they have a housing need as defined by the policy. I have considered all the circumstances that are listed in the policy as a housing need and none of them apply to Mr X. The Council’s decision is consistent with the policy so there is no reason to start an investigation. The Ombudsman does not act as an appeal body and he cannot intervene because a council makes a decision that someone disagrees with.

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Final decision

8. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman