Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the complainants priority on the Council’s housing register. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Miss X, complains about her priority on the Council’s housing register. She says she and her children live in overcrowded accommodation and the Council should wants to be rehoused to a larger property. Miss X says the Council do not understand that her current property is overcrowded which is negatively impacting her family.

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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. (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 the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Miss X lives in a one-bedroom property with her two young sons. In 2014 the Council accepted her onto its housing register and allocated her in Band C. The Council’s policy explains that Band C is for households that are overcrowded, meaning it the property has one less room than the household needs. It explains that children of the same sex are expected to share a room.
7. Miss X contacted the Council and said that her accommodation is overcrowded and it should prioritise her moving to a larger property. The Council has said Miss X is in the correct band and she has not provided any evidence to demonstrate that her circumstances have changed since the original banding decision in 2014.
8. I will not investigate how the Council dealt with Miss X’s original housing application because this was assessed by the Council in 2014 and therefore this happened too long ago.
9. I will not investigate how the Council dealt with Miss X’s recent request to review her banding. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. We are not an appeal body, and we cannot change someone’s priority on the housing register. I have considered the allocations policy and the Council’s decision to place Miss X in band C flows from her families circumstances and the policy.  It is accepted she needs a larger home and that living in overcrowded conditions causes problems, but that is why she has been awarded band C. I have considered the qualifying conditions for bands A and B and there is no suggestion of fault in the way the Council has decided that these bands do not apply in Miss X’s case. The Council has told Miss X how she can ask for a review if her circumstances change.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman