Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mrs X’s housing application banding. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X says the Council should place her in a higher banding on the housing list because she is overcrowded.

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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. Mrs X has been on the Council’s housing waiting list since 2017. She says her current social housing home is statutory overcrowded and asked the Council to give her higher priority. The Council’s officer’s measured the rooms for overcrowding in 2017 as they have a duty to do so.
6. The Council concluded that she is not suffering from statutory overcrowding. The calculation for space standards under the Housing Act 1985 s.10 is that there is habitable space for 5 persons. The social landlord has a permitted number of 4 persons because it does not include living/dining room space as sleeping accommodation, which is not the case with the legislation standard.
7. Because Mrs X’s circumstances do not meet the overcrowding calculation, her banding remains the same as it was since the property was measured in 2017.
8. The Ombudsman may not find fault with a council’s assessment of a housing application/ a housing applicant’s priority if it has carried this out in line with its published allocations scheme.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about Mrs X’s housing application banding. 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