Summary: Ms B complained about the way the Council handled her application to the housing register. The Council wrongly excluded her from joining the register which meant that her application was delayed by over a year. The Council has taken appropriate action to remedy the injustice caused to Ms B and to address the wider issues. It will also apologise to her.

The complaint

1. I refer to the complainant as Ms B. She complained about the way the Council handled her application to the housing register. She considered the Council provided inconsistent information and wrongly excluded her from joining the housing register. She said that as a result her joining the register has been delayed by a year.

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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’. 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)
3. If we are satisfied with an organisation’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

4. I considered the complaint and documents provided by Ms B and spoke to her. I asked the Council to comment on the complaint and provide information. I sent a draft of this statement to Ms B and the Council and considered their comments.

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What I found

5. The background to this complaint is that Ms B was placed in temporary accommodation as she was homeless. She accrued rent arrears and was evicted. After then she was housed by children’s services. She applied to join the housing register in February 2021. The Council said she was ineligible because of her arrears.
6. Ms B had arrears from a previous tenancy with the Council but also with a different authority.

Analysis

7. The Council accepted it was wrong to reject Ms B’s application because of rent arrears. Its housing allocations policy does not make any reference to rejecting an application on that basis. The Council has now assessed an application from Ms B and placed her on the registrar with her effective date back dated to the date of her application.
8. This is appropriate action. There is no basis to think that had Ms B’s application been registered sooner she would have received an offer of accommodation. So her position is now the same as it would have been had there been no fault.
9. It is concerning that the Council did not find this error when it considered Ms B’s complaint. That suggested it was not an isolated error but wider misinterpretation or application of the Council’s policy. The Council has now ensured the relevant team has had guidance about the correct application of the policy.

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Agreed action

10. Within one month of this decision the Council will apologise to Ms B.

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Final decision

11. There was fault which caused injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman