Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Miss X’s housing. Part of the complaint is late, without good reason to investigate it now. On other points, we cannot achieve significantly more, or there is not enough evidence of fault, or Miss X has not complained to the Council about those points.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council had not adequately helped with her housing problems. She says this has caused stress to her and her child.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. 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)
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the council knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the council of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))
4. 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 or may decide not to continue with 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

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Miss X says the Council misled her into accepting her current privately rented home through its ‘temp to settled’ scheme. I have not seen evidence this formed part of Miss X’s complaint to the Council. Anyway, Miss X has lived there for over two years, so the restriction in paragraph 2 applies. If Miss X was dissatisfied with her housing and the way the Council obtained it for her, she could reasonably have complained to us sooner. I do not see good reasons to investigate this now.
8. Miss X states she spoke to a Council officer in June 2022 and expressed concern about conditions in her property, the officer said the Council’s environmental health section would visit within two weeks, but no such visit happened.
9. It is unlikely we could now reach a clear enough view, on balance, about what each party said in this conversation for us to decide whether there was fault in the Council not visiting. It might have been helpful for the Council’s response to Miss X’s stage 1 complaint to address this point, as Miss X had raised it. However, the stage 2 response gave Miss X the contact details to arrange an environmental health inspection. It would be for that inspection, not the Ombudsman, to decide if conditions in the flat require the Council to take further action. So we cannot achieve significantly more on this point. It is for Miss X to ask for the inspection if she wishes. For these reasons, we shall not investigate this point.
10. Miss X wants the Council to ‘move me to a more suitable place.’ If this relates to getting social housing, the Council has already given Miss X Band B priority (high priority) on its housing register. It has also told Miss X that, if she gives details of her son’s medical condition, it will consider whether to increase her priority. I see no evidence of fault by the Council on the social housing application.
11. Miss X says the Council gave her inadequate help finding alternative housing. She says the Council only gave her details of agents dealing with properties outside Lambeth. There are limits on the Council’s responsibilities here. Miss X is not currently homeless or likely to become homeless within 56 days, so the Council has no duty to help her find housing. It was not necessarily fault for the Council to provide the details it did, and the agents it told her about would not necessarily always exclude properties in Lambeth. Miss X says she wants a list of local landlords the Council works with. She can reasonably ask the Council for that and, if the Council has such information, it could provide it.
12. Miss X told us she wants the Council to help her with a deposit for a move. I do not see her complaint to the Council asked for that, so the restriction in paragraph 2 applies to this point. It is open to Miss X to ask the Council about such help. The Council does not have to provide help with a deposit in every case, but if Miss X asks, it could then advise Miss X about any policy it has for providing such help.
13. Miss X told us she wants to know who her housing officer is. I do not see her complaint to the Council included this, so I need not consider it now. Anyway, as Miss X is not a Council tenant and does not have a current homelessness case with the Council, the Council does not have to appoint a housing officer for her.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. The part about the Council using the ‘temp to settled’ scheme is late without good reason to investigate it now. As the Council told Miss X how to request an environmental health inspection, we cannot achieve significantly more on that. On other points, there is either not enough evidence of fault, or Miss X has not complained to the Council about those points.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman