Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Miss X’s housing application. The complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council applying the date of when she was accepted as homeless for the date of her current housing application. She says she previously spent time in temporary accommodation from 2012-2014 and that her previous time on the housing list should be included in her application.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss X applied for to the Council for housing when she was evicted from her private-rented accommodation in January 2020. The Council accepted her onto the housing list with a banding of Band 3 effective from March 2020. She was rehoused in temporary accommodation in a neighbouring London borough because of shortage of housing within Hammersmith and Fulham.
6. Miss X says she should have a date of application which takes into account periods when she was on the waiting list in previous decades at other addresses. She was placed in temporary accommodation in 2012-2014 and this should also be included. She complained to the Council about her assessment in September 2021. In July 2022 she complained to us.
7. The Council told her that it will only consider her application from her current homeless presentation. She found her own settled accommodation for the years following her last presentation and her previous time on the list relates to her previous housing circumstances at different addresses.
8. We will not exercise discretion to investigate Miss X’s complaint now because it was received outside the normal 12-month period. It was reasonable for her to complain to us once she was aware of the banding and disagreed with the Council’s reasoning. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.

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Final decision

9. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Miss X’s housing application. The complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman