Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s refusal of her application to the housing register. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X’s application to the Council’s housing register was rejected because it says she does not meet the requirements of its allocations policy. She says she should be eligible because her current rented accommodation has a mouse infestation, and she has mental health problems which should give her medical priority.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss X applied to the Council’s housing register, but she was told she is not eligible because she is currently adequately housed. She says her private rented home has a mouse infestation which the landlord has not dealt with. The Council says its Environmental Services Team have been involved and the pest control officer confirmed there was no significant mouse problem.
6. Miss X says she has metal health problems and provided evidence of this from her doctor. The Council says her mental health problems are not deemed to be severe enough that she requires intervention from the Mental Health Services or is unable to deal with daily living. Its housing allocations scheme requires that a medical condition is affected by their current housing situation, and it does not consider her current housing meets this requirement.
7. Miss X is concerned that her landlord is seeking eviction proceedings. She told the Council and it advised her to contact its housing options team who deal with homeless applications. This application would be treated under different legislation and policy to a housing register application.
8. We will not uphold a complaint if the council has followed proper procedures, relevant legislation and guidance and taken account of all the information provided, even if the applicant believes that the council should have given more priority to the application to move. It may be the case that, although they need to move urgently, there are other applicants who have an even greater need.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s refusal of her application to the housing register. 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