Summary: Miss X complained about the Council’s assessment of her housing application. We should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council placing her in Band 3 on the housing waiting list when she believes that she should be in a higher banding. She wants the Council to increase her priority on the list.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. 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

3. I have considered all the information which Miss X submitted with her complaint. I have also considered the Council’s response. Miss X has been given an opportunity to comment on a draft copy of my decision.

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What I found

4. Miss X is a social housing tenant in a housing association property. She says the flat is too small for her family and that it suffers from dampness which the landlord is aware of but hasn’t yet resolved. Her priority is because she is short of one bedroom under the allocations scheme and her health problems and she is in Band 3.
5. Miss X asked for a review of her banding and the Council did this in January 2021. The review did not change the banding because her circumstances did not warrant the next banding. The Council says the housing association landlord is seeking to repair the property to address the dampness.
6. The Ombudsman may not find fault with a council’s assessment of a housing applicant’s priority if it has carried this out in line with its published allocations scheme. The review took Miss X’s circumstances into account but did not change her priority.
7. If her social housing landlord fails to address the disrepair in her home, she could submit a complaint to the Housing Ombudsman service which is the proper authority to investigate complaints from social housing tenants.

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Final decision

8. We should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman