Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has not helped the complainant with her housing for the last 30 years and is responsible for her not getting a house. This is because parts of the complaint are late and because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, complains the Council has not helped her with her housing situation for the last 30 years. She says the Council owes her a two bedroom house.

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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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code and comments Ms X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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My assessment

5. In 1996 Ms X succeeded to a tenancy of a three bedroom house. She joined the housing register in 2012 because she needed a smaller home. She made a successful bid for a two bedroom house in May 2013. She declined the offer a week later because the Council said it could not help with moving costs. Ms X says this was wrong.
6. Ms X placed another bid in 2014. She did not make any more bids until 2018. The Council closed her application in 2018 because Ms X did not respond to the annual review.
7. Ms X applied to re-join the housing register in 2021. The Council placed her in band two on the register. In May 2021 Ms X did a mutual exchange and moved to a two bedroom flat. Ms X says the flat is unsuitable due to noise issues. Ms X remains on the housing register and is in band two.
8. Ms X says the Council left her in a house which was too big and failed for 30 years to help her. She also says she should have been able to move to the house which was offered in 2013.
9. I will not investigate this complaint because parts of the complaint are late. We cannot investigate events that have occurred over the last 30 years. We expect people to complain within 12 months. For this reason we will not investigate the circumstances surrounding Ms X’s decision to decline the house in 2013 or what happened in the years after she succeeded to the tenancy.
10. I also will not start an investigate because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council could only have offered a new home to Ms X if she made a successful bid. But, from 2012 to 2018, she only made two bids so she only had two potential opportunities to move. The Council could not help Ms X outside the bidding process. Since then the Council has registered Ms X’s new application so she has the potential to move if she makes a successful bid. The Council cannot, however, simply give her a house.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and because part of the complaint is late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman