Birmingham City Council (21 004 987)

Category : Housing > Allocations

Decision : Upheld

Decision date : 27 Apr 2022

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: The Council is not making consistent decisions about whether housing applicants can bid on properties with one less bedroom than they need. The Council has agreed to take action to ensure its decisions are consistent in future.

The complaint

  1. Mrs B complains that the Council has not given her sufficient priority on its housing register and will only allow her to bid on four-bedroom properties, which rarely become available.
  2. Mrs B says that as a result, her family is living in unsuitable accommodation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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)
  2. 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

  1. I have:
    • considered the complaint and the documents provided by the complainant;
    • considered the documents the Council has provided; and
    • given the Council and the complainant the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

The Council’s allocations scheme

  1. Bidding: The Council operates a choice-based lettings scheme. Housing applicants can bid on available properties.
  2. Priority band: The Council places applicants who qualify to join the housing register in a priority band from Band 1 (highest priority) to Band 4 (lowest priority). This priority is the first factor the Council uses to allocate a property.
  3. Reviews: Applicants have the right to request a review of a housing priority decision within 21 days of the decision.
  4. Band 1: So far as is relevant to this complaint, the Council awards Band 1 where disabled persons (as defined under the Equality Act 2010) have restricted or limited mobility and are limited by their accommodation and unable to carry out day to day activities or have difficulties accessing facilities and the current accommodation cannot be reasonably adapted.
  5. Band 2: So far as is relevant to this complaint, the Council awards Band 2 where the applicant’s medical or disability needs mean their housing is unsuitable. This includes applicants who are not housebound or whose life is not at risk, but whose current housing is directly impacting their health.

Overview

  1. Mrs B lives in a two-bedroom flat with her husband and four children. She was accepted on to the Council’s housing register in 2017. She was awarded Band 3 for overcrowding with a need for a three-bedroom property.
  2. Mrs B asked the Council to reassess her housing priority and she provided supporting evidence to show that the accommodation was affecting her children’s health.
  3. In January 2021, the Council awarded Band 2 for medical needs. It accepted that Mrs B’s daughter needed her own bedroom on medical grounds and so changed her bedroom requirement from three bedrooms to four bedrooms.
  4. Mrs B complained that the Council’s decision had made it more difficult for her to find housing because fewer four-bedroom properties become available. Mrs B also submitted further medical evidence to support her request for additional medical priority.
  5. The Council assessed the medical evidence and again decided that Mrs B met the criteria for a Band 2 medical award. In its response to Mrs B’s complaint, it said that if she considered a three-bedroom property would be suitable for her family’s needs, she could ask the Council to change her bedroom requirement back to three bedrooms.
  6. Mrs B remained dissatisfied and escalated her complaint to the next stage of the complaints procedure. In the Council’s response, it said that it could not knowingly place her in overcrowded accommodation and so she would only be able to bid on four-bedroom properties.
  7. Since issuing a draft decision on this complaint, Mrs B has advised that she has moved to alternative accommodation.

Analysis

  1. Mrs B has provided a copy of the medical evidence she submitted to the Council. The Council’s decision to award Band 2 medical priority is consistent with its Housing Allocations Scheme. The Council properly advised Mrs B to request a review if she disagreed with its housing priority decision, but she did not do so. I have found no evidence of fault here.
  2. When the Council initially responded to Mrs B’s complaint, it advised Mrs B that if she considered three bedrooms would be suitable for her needs, she could email the service and ask for the extra bedroom award to be removed. I am satisfied that the Council properly considered Mrs B’s circumstances and explained what she needed to do if she wanted her bedroom need to be changed from four bedrooms to three bedrooms.
  3. Mrs B did not email the service and instead submitted a further complaint. The Council then provided information which contradicted its previous response. It said that it could not change her bedroom need to three bedrooms because it could not knowingly place her in overcrowded accommodation. The Council has agreed to reduce the bedroom need in other cases after an extra bedroom had been agreed on medical grounds. The Council is not making consistent decisions. This is fault.

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Agreed action

  1. Within eight weeks, the Council will issue guidance to its staff about not fettering their discretion and the circumstances in which they should consider changing the number of bedrooms an applicant is able to bid on.
  2. To remedy Mrs B’s injustice, we asked the Council to contact Mrs B and repeat its offer to reduce her bedroom need from four bedrooms to three bedrooms. After Mrs B informed us that her housing circumstances had changed, we removed this recommendation.

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Final decision

  1. I have completed my investigation and uphold Mrs B’s complaint. There was fault by the Council which caused injustice. The Council has agreed to take the action we recommended.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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