Summary: Mr and Mrs X complained the Council wrongly determined they do not qualify for the housing register and refused to consider their review request. The Council’s failure to properly assess Mr and Mrs X’s application to join the housing register amounts to fault. The Council has taken action to redress any injustice this caused.

The complaint

1. The complainants, whom I shall refer to as Mr and Mrs X complain the Council has wrongly determined they do not qualify for the housing register and refused to consider their review request. Mr and Mrs X state they did not receive a letter from the Council and were unaware of the Council’s decision that they did not qualify until they were told by a local councillor weeks later. Mr and Mrs X then asked the Council to review this decision. They consider the Council was wrong to refuse their request on the basis it was late.

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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. 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

4. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Mr and Mrs X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with Mrs X;
• Mr and Mrs X 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

Housing Allocations

5. Every local housing authority must publish an allocations scheme that sets out how it prioritises applicants, and its procedures for allocating housing. (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(1) & (14))
6. Council’s must notify applicants in writing of the following decisions and give reasons:
• that the applicant is not eligible for an allocation;
• that the applicant is not a qualifying person;
• a decision not to award the applicant reasonable preference because of their unreasonable behaviour.
7. The Council must also notify the applicant of the right to request a review of these decisions. (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(9))

The Council’s Housing Allocation Scheme

8. The Council’s scheme identifies classes of people who will not normally qualify for an allocation. This includes people with income and /or assets which it defines as:

“Persons/households with a property in the UK or abroad that is suitable for their occupation.”

“Persons with sufficient income or levels of assets or savings that would enable them to access market housing within the city.”

9. The scheme also recognises there may be exceptional circumstances where it becomes necessary to reconsider the qualification criteria of applicants who would not normally qualify. The scheme states the Council may reconsider the qualification of these individuals in extreme circumstances, for example, where there us a threat to life and no other housing options are available.

What happened here

10. Mr and Mrs X had lived abroad for several years when they decided to return to the UK to be closer to their family. Mr and Mrs X put their property abroad on the market but have been unable to sell it.
11. When they returned to the UK, Mr and Mrs X privately rented a property. This property was initially suitable for their needs, but since the summer of 2020 Mr X’s health has deteriorated. Mr X is no longer able to go upstairs so cannot access the bedroom or bathroom on the first floor.
12. On 1 September 2020 Mr and Mrs X applied to join the housing register. In the section Ownership/Equity/ Assets, Mr and Mrs X recorded they owned a property abroad. The application form then asked for details of the property and Mr and Mrs X’s financial interest. It did not ask whether the property was suitable for their occupation. Mr and Mrs X explained the property had been on the market for three years and they had reduced the price to the bare minimum but were still unable to sell it. They also noted that their current private rented accommodation was no longer suitable for Mr Y’s needs.
13. Mr and Mrs X’s local councillor also contacted the Council and asked to be kept informed of the progress of their application. The Council’s case records show their application immediately failed pre-qualification. An officer then wrote to Mr and Mrs X on 3 September 2020 to inform them they did not qualify to join the housing register. As Mr and Mrs X owned a property the Council considered they had sufficient income/savings/equity/ assets to enable them to access market housing in Birmingham. The Council advised Mr and Mrs X they could request a review within 21 days of receiving this letter.
14. Mr and Mrs X state they did not receive this letter and were unaware of the Council’s decision until a month later. Mr and Mrs X’s councillor had contacted the Council again on 7 September 2020 seeking confirmation they had been accepted on the housing register. The Council did not respond until 1 October 2020. It confirmed Mr and Mrs X’s application had failed at the pre-qualification stage and their application was closed. The councillor passed on this information to Mr and Mrs X, and they requested a review on 9 October 2020. The Council refused their request the same day, on the basis it was out of time.
15. The Council’s letter to Mr and Mrs X states:

“Applicants are required to meet the eligibility and qualification criteria to be placed on the register. An applicant must have a housing need to qualify to be placed on the housing register. The system is designed to automatically pass or fail applications dependent on customers providing the answers to the questions”

16. As there is no further right of review in relation to this decision, Mr and Mrs X have asked the Ombudsman to investigate their complaint. Mr and Mrs X complain the Council has not taken account of their circumstances in deciding they are not eligible to join the housing register. They also assert the Council should have accepted their review request as they made it within a couple of days of learning of the Council’s decision.
17. In response to my enquiries the Council states it has re-opened Mr and Mrs X’s application and has asked them X to provide further information relating to their finances and the property abroad.
18. The Council states the review officer’s letter to Mr and Mrs X was not a standard template letter. The officer added the text set out at paragraph 15 above, but this information is not correct. The Council states the application system is currently set that if an applicant answers a question in a negative way it automatically fails the application and does not let the applicant continue to the end. If an applicant incorrectly answers a question and cannot complete the form, they can contact the Council to ask that the form is unlocked and sent back to them to correct. They can then continue with the application. The Council states an officer assessment is then completed before a decision is made.
19. In addition, the Council has confirmed it has discretion to consider review requests outside the 21-day timescale in “exceptional circumstances”. The Council states it received Mr and Mrs X’s review request 35 days after the decision. There was no indication in the review request that there were any exceptional circumstances to consider or any explanation for the lateness.

Analysis

20. Based on the information available I consider there were failings in the way the Council assessed Mr and Mrs X’s application to join the housing register.
21. The Council’s housing allocation scheme sets out the circumstances in which applicant would not qualify to join the housing register. Owning a property should not automatically prevent an applicant from qualifying to join the housing register. The scheme refers to properties that are suitable for the applicant’s occupation, and levels of assets or savings that would enable applicants to access market housing within the city.
22. The Council’s online application form does not request information regarding the suitability of Mr and Mrs X’s property, or full details of their assets and debts, to determine whether they would be able to access market housing. It is unclear how the Council could determine Mr and Mrs X did not qualify for the housing register without this information.
23. The Council has now asked Mr and Mrs X to provide evidence in the form of a mortgage statement, estate agent valuation, bank statement and completion statement so that it can determine whether they qualify to join the housing register. I consider the Council should have requested this information at the outset, rather than reject Mr and Mrs X’s application.
24. The failure to properly consider Mr and Mrs X’s housing application amounts to fault.
25. It is unclear why Mr and Mrs X did not receive the Council’s letter of 3 September 2020, but there is no evidence this was due to fault on the part of the Council.
26. The Council does not appear to have considered the merits of Mr and Mrs X’s review request but rejected it purely on timeliness. The Council’s records show the reviewing officer took less than five minutes to consider Mr and Mrs X’s review request, issue a non-template letter, and close their case. It is unfortunate that when Mr and Mrs X requested a review, they did not inform the Council they had not received a decision letter. However, the Council would have been aware of the local councillor’s query regarding their status on the housing register and its recent correspondence advising the councillor Mr and Mrs X did not qualify. It is arguable that this should have prompted more detailed consideration of the review request and their circumstances.
27. The Council has re-opened Mr and Mrs X’s application to review the position regarding their property abroad. I consider this to be an appropriate response.

Agreed action

28. The Council has agreed to review its online application form to ensure it clearly sets out the suitability and financial information it requires applicants to provide in relation to any properties they own/ have a financial interest in.
29. The Council has also agreed to remind/revise its guidance to officers that they may need to request additional information from applicants to assess whether they qualify to join the housing register.
30. The Council should carry out this action within two months of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

31. The Council’s failure to properly assess Mr and Mrs X’s application to join the housing register amounts to fault. The Council has taken action to redress any injustice this caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman