Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Miss X’s housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council rejecting her application to its transfer list. She says it carried out a medical assessment of her application but that it did not award her any additional priority as a result.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. 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
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

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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 says she submitted a transfer application to the Council because she shares a 3 bedroom social housing home with her parents and brothers on the fifth floor. She has mobility problems and she says there are stairs to the bathroom and that the lift in the building sometimes is unserviceable which leaves her trapped at home.
7. The Council told Miss X that she could not be included on the housing register as a transfer applicant. The tenancy belongs to her parents and she is a member of their household. She does not have status as a tenant to apply for a transfer or an exchange under the Council’s allocations scheme. The Council rejected Miss X’s medical information which she provided for her application because it does not give her priority for a transfer.
8. Since she submitted her complaint to us, the Council says Miss X’s parents have applied for a transfer with her as part of their household. The Council has accepted the application and awarded priority based on overcrowding and need for mobility access.
9. The Ombudsman may not find fault with a council’s assessment of a housing application/ a housing applicant’s priority if it has carried this out in line with its published allocations scheme. We recognise that the demand for social housing far outstrips the supply of properties in many areas. We may not find fault with a council for failing to re-house someone, if it has prioritised applicants and allocated properties according to its published lettings scheme policy.
10. In this case Miss X was not eligible to make a transfer application and one has now been submitted by her parents who do qualify under the allocation system.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Miss X’s housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman