Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has refused the complainant’s application to join the housing register. This is 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 refused her application to join the housing register. She says her home has a long-standing problem with damp which is affecting her mental health. Ms X wants to join the housing register.

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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))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Ms and the Council. This includes the housing application, decision letters and the allocations policy. I also considered our Assessment Code and invited Ms X to comment on a draft of this decision.

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My assessment

4. The policy says people can join the housing register if they have a housing need as defined by the policy. This includes private tenants who have serious disrepair in their homes which cannot be resolved. It also includes people whose health is affected by their accommodation and the condition of the property cannot be improved.
5. Ms X is a Council tenant. She says her property is damp and, over the years, many of her possessions have been damaged. Ms X says the damp makes her mental health condition worse.
6. Ms X applied to join the housing register. She supplied medical evidence stating the damp affects her mental health. She also supplied evidence confirming she is supported by the mental health team.
7. The Council refused the application on the basis Ms X has no housing need. The property is the correct size, as a Council tenant she cannot use the disrepair rules and, as a social tenant, she should approach her landlord about the damp.
8. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. Ms X says the damp affects her mental health but damp is an issue that should be dealt with by her landlord. Ms X can ask her landlord to deal with the damp and, if the landlord fails to respond appropriately, she can complain to the landlord and then to the Housing Ombudsman.
9. If, after comprehensive attempts have been made by the landlord to resolve the damp, the problem is on-going, Ms X could re-apply to the housing register; she would need to provide evidence of the work that had been tried to deal with the damp and evidence it cannot be resolved. Further, even if Ms X joined the housing register, it would be many years before the Council would be able to offer alternative accommodation so it may be more beneficial for Ms X to focus on working with her landlord to deal with the damp.
10. We do not act as an appeal body and cannot change the Council’s decision. We also have no power to get Ms X re-housed.

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Final decision

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

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman