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. Miss X complained about the Council’s consideration of her housing application. She says she should have higher priority than she has because she shares a small studio flat with her daughter and they have to share the same bed. She says other applicants have been awarded a higher overcrowding status.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant. I have also considered the Council’s housing allocations policy.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss X lives in a small single bedroomed flat which she says is so small her daughter has to share a bed with her as there is no room for a second one. She applied to the Council for rehousing in April 2022 and was awarded reasonable preference status because she is lacking a bedroom and has insecure tenancy rights.
6. Miss X submitted medical assessments requests for her and her daughter but these did not meet the requirements for additional medical priority. She did not request a review of the decisions. Miss X says she should be in the Council’s SOVP category which is for severely overcrowded plus cases.
7. The Council told Mis X she does not meet the criteria for SOVP because this is reserved for families who are short of two or more bedrooms and are already using any other rooms as sleeping accommodation. Miss X has room for one bed so she is one bedroom short. She says she knows of other applicants who have been awarded SOVP status. The Council says they would need to be short of two bedrooms and may have other reasonable preference needs such as being homeless or in temporary accommodation.
8. 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.
9. I have seen no evidence of fault which would suggests that Miss X should be placed in a higher banding.

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Final decision

10. 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