Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions in relation to the allocation of a housing association property to Mr X’s neighbour. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council allocated a neighbouring property to someone without considering the risk they posed to others. Mr X says he was caused significant distress as a result of the neighbour’s behaviour.

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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
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or

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

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Based on the information Mr X has provided to the Ombudsman it appears the Council was involved in allocating the property to Mr X’s neighbour through its housing allocations scheme. Mr X’s landlord, a housing association, has told Mr X that the Council provided it with a reference for his neighbour.
6. There is no indication that the Council provided the housing association with false or misleading information about Mr X’s neighbour. Therefore, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating this complaint.
7. The decision to allocate the property rests with the landlord which is a housing association. The housing association are also responsible for managing both Mr X and his neighbour’s tenancies. The law does not allow us to investigate complaints about the actions of housing associations. Mr X has already complained to the Housing Ombudsman.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman