Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the housing register because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. In addition, the claimed injustice does not warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, says the Council backtracked on its agreement that he could join the housing register and have the application backdated for five years.

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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, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and the Council’s responses. I considered the housing allocation policy and listened to a recording of a call between Mr X and the Council. I considered comments Mr X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Allocation policy

4. The policy says people cannot join the housing register if they have had serious rent arrears in the last seven years.

What happened

5. The documents say Mr X has rent arrears of £3110. Mr X has not denied he has arrears.
6. Mr X complained to the Council that an officer told him he could join the housing register, in spite of the arrears, and that the Council would backdate the application by five years. But, Mr X says the Council then backtracked on that decision and said he could not join the housing register.
7. In response the Council said there was no evidence anyone had told him he could join the housing register. Instead, an officer said he would explore with the Income Team whether he could join, despite the arrears. However, the Income Team confirmed Mr X cannot join the housing register because he has rent arrears. For this reason the Council refused the housing application Mr X had made in February.
8. Mr X sent me a recording of a call he had with the officer. He says this proves he was told he could join the register.

Assessment

9. There is not enough evidence of fault to warrant an investigation. Mr X has rent arrears and the policy says people with rent arrears cannot join the housing register. I have listened to the call recording and it confirms that the officer had been trying to help Mr X, and had explored whether he could join the register; but senior officers declined because Mr X has rent arrears.
10. There is no evidence the Council said it would do anything more than explore if an exception could be made to the rules regarding rent arrears. And, even if the Council gave Mr X the wrong impression, this has not caused an injustice which requires an investigation because the rent arrears mean he is ineligible to join the housing register.

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Final decision

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

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman