Summary: Mrs X complained about how the Council dealt with her son’s housing situation. We have found no fault with the Council’s actions which were in line with its Housing Allocation Scheme.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained on behalf of her son Mr Y and his partner Ms Y. Mrs X complained about how the Council dealt with Mr and Ms Y’s housing register application. She said her son and his family remain in unsuitable private rented accommodation that does not meet their needs.
2. Mrs X said the Council initially refused to accept them on to the register due to rent arrears. She said these have now been cleared but the Council is still delaying their application.
3. Mrs X said she provided reasons why they had fallen into rent arrears, but the Council did not properly consider this information.
4. Mrs X also complained about how the Council handled her complaints about condition of her son’s property and the housing applications.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. 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 how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
6. 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)
7. 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)

Back to top

What I have and have not investigated

8. Mrs X first brought the complaint to us in July 2022. I have therefore investigated the period 12 months before this date i.e., back to July 2021.
9. Anything that happened before July 2021 is considered late under 26B of the Local Government Act. I have not exercised my discretion to look back further than 12 months as I have seen no reason why Mrs X could not have brought the complaint to us sooner when she became aware of the issue.
10. I recognise there are on-going issues with Mr Y’s application however, I must specify an end date beyond which I will not investigate. The regulations state this should be no later than the date when the complaint was submitted to us and may well be earlier. Therefore, the end date of my investigation is July 2022 when Mrs X brought the complaint to us.
11. Any information I include outside this period is for context purposes only.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

12. I considered Mrs X’s complaint and spoke to her about it.
13. I also considered the Council’s response to Mrs X and to my enquiries.
14. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Legislation

Housing allocation scheme

15. The 2018 version of the Council’s Housing Allocation Scheme was in place when Mr Y applied to join the register in 2019.This set out the Council’s policy for assessing applications to the Councils housing pool and for allocating homes owned by the Council and housing associations.
16. The Scheme set out criteria which would disqualify applicants from joining the register. This included applicants who:
• Owe significant housing related debt to a Council, Registered Landlord or Private Landlord. (Significant housing debt is rent arrears/use and occupation charges, including housing benefit and court costs, equivalent to 8 weeks and above chargeable rent/monies for the property, rechargeable repairs and repayable rent deposits).
17. The Council’s Housing Allocation Scheme was revised in 2021. This updated the disqualification criteria. This included:
• Applicants who have significant housing debt including rent arrears (of eight weeks or more, including where arrears are the result of an overpayment of Housing Benefit). The sanction will apply unless the applicant is not responsible for the housing debt or there are exceptional circumstances.

What happened

Background

18. Mr Y applied to join the Council’s housing register in November 2019. The Council obtained information which showed that Mr X owed over £5000 in rent arrears. The Council rejected Mr X’s application as he did not meet qualification criteria due to the rent arrears.

Complaint to the Council

19. Mrs X complained to the Council in May 2021 about her son’s housing situation. She said that Mr Y’s current accommodation was unsuitable.
20. Mrs X said the Council discriminated against her son when it denied him access to the housing register. In its response, the Council confirmed his application was refused due to significant rent arrears in line with its policy.
21. Mrs X also complained that Mr Y’s current accommodation was not habitable. She said there were broken windows, no heating or hot water. The Council’s response confirmed that Environmental Heath officers had responded to her son’s service request about the condition of the property. Officers visited the property and undertook a full inspection and compiled a schedule of works. Mr Y confirmed these had been completed. Following a call from Mr Y’s father, officers visited the property again which further confirmed the works had been done.
22. Mrs X escalated her complaint through stage 2 and 3 of the Council’s complaint process. She said the Council took too long to respond and did not address her concerns. The Council sent its final response in January 2022.

2022 Housing register application

23. In early 2022, Mr Y submitted a new application for the housing register. This included medical information to support the family’s case that their current property was not suitable on medical grounds.
24. The Council obtained advice from an independent medical advisor. The outcome of this advice was that given Mr Y’s child had not received a formal diagnosis of autism, the current property was suitable as the children did not require separate bedrooms or ground floor accommodation.
25. As part of the statutory process, the Council obtained a reference from Mr Y’s landlord. This stated that Mr and Ms Y’s rent arrears stood at nearly £4000. The landlord did not intend to evict the family as a repayment plan was in place.
26. The Council refused Mr Y’s application on the grounds that the rent arrears were still higher than the threshold set out in the Housing Allocation policy. In its response, the Council included an extract from the 2018 Housing Allocation Policy.
27. Mrs X requested the Council reviewed its decision on the grounds that the supporting medical information meant the family had exceptional circumstances which should override the rent arrears disqualification criteria.
28. The Council said it considered the additional information provided by Mr Y and Mrs X but upheld the original decision:
• It explained that the Council had prioritised Mr Y’s application to enable full consideration of his family’s circumstances at the time.
• It also recognised that Mr Y was in the process of paying off the arrears but that they must be inline with the allocation policy to qualify.
• It went on the say there was no medical evidence that could be directly attributed to the accumulation of rent arrears.
• It said that although Ms Y had been diagnosed with autism, Mr Y was the joint tenant and therefore joint and severely liable for the rent arrears.
• It also referenced the Independent Medical Report that stated that the children did not require separate bedrooms and there was no need for ground floor accommodation.

Complaint to the Ombudsman

29. Mrs X brought her complaint about the Council’s handling of her son’s housing application to the Ombudsman in July 2022.

Update

30. Mrs X said that in May 2023, her son had paid off all the rent arrears. He then submitted a new application to the Council. This application is still outstanding. I have not investigated matters which occurred after Mrs X brought the complaint to us in July 2022.

My findings

31. My investigation covered the period between July 2021 and July 2022. I have explained above why I have not considered matters outside this period of time.

Complaint response

32. The Council’s response to Mrs X’s complaint in July 2021 revisited the issue surrounding Mr Y’s exclusion for the housing register. I am satisfied the Council’s explanation reflected the Council’s Housing Allocation policy at the time. I have found no fault here.
33. In its response, the Council also confirmed that Environmental Health officers had visited Mr Y’s property to resolve the issues and Mr Y was satisfied with the outcome, so the case was closed. From the evidence I have seen, the Council responded proportionally to Mr Y’s service request and subsequent requests from Mrs X and her husband. I have found no fault here.
34. The whole complaint process covering 3 stages took 8 months. This is not unusual. During this time, the Council was in regular contact with Mrs X and her son. The Council’s response was thorough and covered the matters raised by Mrs X. I have found no fault here.

2022 Housing register application

35. From the evidence I have seen, the Council considered Mr Y’s housing application in line with the Council’s housing allocation policy at the time. Although the Council referred to the 2018 policy in its decision, it is clear from the evidence that the Council considered Mr Y’s application against the revised 2021 policy. This is evident as the Council considered whether Mr Y’s application could qualify under exceptional circumstances despite his significant rent arrears.
36. The Council prioritised Mr Y’s application to take account of the family’s circumstances. It then sought independent medical advice to better understand the family’s medical needs. It explained why Ms Y’s medical needs did not cause the build-up of rent arrears and why their child’s condition did not render the current property unsuitable.
37. I am satisfied the Council properly considered Mr Y’s housing register application and supporting information in 2022. I cannot question the Council’s decision if I have found no fault in the way it was reached. I have found no fault here.

Back to top

Final decision

38. I have completed my investigation. There was no fault with how the Council handled Mrs X’s son’s housing register application or the condition of the family’s current accommodation. The Council reached its decision inline with the Council’s Housing Allocation Scheme and acted proportionally by visiting and inspecting the property.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman