Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Mrs X’s housing transfer application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation. We cannot investigate her complaints about housing disrepair in her Council home because the management social housing is outside our jurisdiction.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council’s failure to rehouse her since she applied for a transfer in 2011. She says her current Council home is overcrowded and suffers from mould growth. She wants the Council to give her application higher priority than the current banding.

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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. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code and the Council’s Housing Allocations Policy.

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My assessment

7. Mrs X says she has been on the housing transfer list since 2011. She lives in a one bedroom flat with her husband and four small children. She was awarded Band 2A on the grounds of overcrowding and is eligible to bid for 4 bedroom houses. She says that the flat is affected by mould growth and has reported this to her Council landlord. The Council says it has programmed work for its contractors to carry out mould treatment shortly.
8. Mrs X’s priority was assessed using the Council’s housing allocations policy and she was advised that although she has 4-bedroom needs she is eligible to bid for 3-bedroom properties which are more numerous. The Council says it offered her a 3-bedroom property in 2014 but she refused it as it was too small. Mrs X disputes that this was the reason.
9. We may only investigate complaints about matters which have come to the complainant’s attention within the past 12 months. We will not consider matters relating to the Council’s offer or Mrs X’s application assessment before 2022 as there is no evidence to suggest that she could not have complained to us sooner.
10. 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. The Council says that the current waiting time for a 3-bedroom property in its area is 10 years and 13 years for four bedrooms.
11. We cannot consider Mrs X’s complaints about mould in her home because disrepair in social housing falls within the remit of the Housing Ombudsman Service and is not within our jurisdiction.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Mrs X’s housing transfer application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation. We cannot investigate her complaints about housing disrepair in her Council home because the management social housing is outside our jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman