Summary: There was no fault by the Council. The evidence suggests the Council did not place a bid on a property without Miss B’s agreement.

The complaint

1. Miss B complains that the Council placed a bid on a property without her agreement, and deliberately shortlisted her in position 2 so that it could suspend her from bidding in order to cause her distress and inconvenience.

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What I have investigated

2. I have investigated matters that completed the Council’s complaints procedure in December 2021. The final section of this statement contains my reasons for not investigating earlier matters.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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

5. I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by the complainant;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and 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

6. The Council operates a choice-based lettings scheme. Housing applicants can bid on available properties.
7. After each weekly bidding cycle, the Council completes a shortlist of applicants who have bid for each advertised property. The shortlist is used to offer the property to the applicant with the highest priority according to the allocation scheme.
8. The applicant in bid position 1 is notified of a provisional offer and invited to view the property. Whilst the offer is under consideration, applicants are not shortlisted for other available properties.
9. Autobids or assisted bids are bids placed by the Council on behalf of the applicant.

Overview

10. Miss B has been on the Council’s housing register since 2016.
11. Miss B has made complaints to us about the Council previously which we have investigated. In August 2021, we found that the Council wrongly suspended Miss B from bidding on properties between August 2020 and July 2021.
12. In November 2021, Miss B was shortlisted in position 2 for a property. The Council wrote to Miss B to advise that the offer was subject to the person in bid position 1 refusing the property.
13. Miss B complained to the Council that it had bid on the property on her behalf.
14. In the Council’s response of 5 November, it accepted that auto bidding had been incorrectly applied to her account and confirmed that it had now been removed.
15. On the 26 November, Miss B complained that the Council had suspended her from bidding again. In the Council’s response, it explained that she was unable to place any bids because she had been shortlisted for a property.
16. Miss B considers she should not have been suspended from bidding because she did not bid on the property she was shortlisted for. She believes the Council deliberately shortlisted her in position 2 so that it could suspend her from bidding in order to cause her distress and inconvenience.
17. After the applicant in position 1 declined the offer, the property was offered to Miss B. She moved in on 3 December 2021.

Analysis

18. The Council’s records show that Miss B bid on the property herself. Miss B disputes this, but on the balance of probabilities, I consider it likely that Miss B did bid on the property herself, considering she went on to accept the offer. Miss B was not obliged to accept it; if she had declined the offer, she would have been entitled to two further offers of accommodation. I have found no evidence of fault by the Council here.
19. While the Council accepted in its response to Miss B’s complaint that the auto bid facility had been wrongly applied to her account, I have seen no evidence of this. The Council has provided Miss B’s bidding history which shows that Miss B has placed all bids herself.
20. The Council says that Miss B’s account was suspended when she was shortlisted on 3 November and the suspension was lifted after the property was offered to the applicant in position 1 the next day. Miss B’s account was then suspended again on 25 November after the applicant in position 1 declined the offer.
21. The evidence shows that Miss B bid on another property during the weekly bidding cycle which ended on 22 November, and so her account was not suspended at that time. Miss B was unable to bid after 25 November because she was being considered for the property. She accepted the offer around a week later. I have found no evidence to suggest the Council incorrectly prevented Miss B from bidding.

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Final decision

22. I have completed my investigation and do not uphold Miss B’s complaint. There was no fault by the Council.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

23. I have not investigated Miss B’s complaint that the Council has been frustrating her efforts to move for several years. This is because we have already investigated Miss B’s complaints about this. Our last investigation related to the period June 2020 to July 2021.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman