Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Ms X’s housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council’s assessment of her housing application. She says she has been placed in Band C but that she believes her application should have higher priority because of disrepair in her Council home.

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

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My assessment

5. Ms X applied for rehousing to the Council with whom she is a social housing tenant. In February 2023 she was informed that her application qualified for Band C priority on the basis of her being one bedroom short for her family with two children. She was advised that she could bid on three-bedroom vacancies.
6. Ms X says there is a problem with the water pressure and that her flat is cold which requires her to use additional buckets for bathing. Her GP wrote a letter in her support for a medical review and stated that she has a long standing injury which causes her pain.
7. The Council rejected Ms X’s medical review because it did not meet the allocations policy for medical priority. This requires that medical conditions are related to conditions in her home which are impacting health and which could be improved by rehousing to another home. Ms X’s condition does not meet the criteria for medical priority.
8. The Council also told Ms X that she had not reported any problems with heating or bathing facilities and that she should do so in order to give its repairs team an opportunity to carry out any repairs.
9. 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.
10. It is clear that Ms X’s application has been reviewed for medical need but that even if this had been successful it would have placed her in the same banding as that for overcrowding. If Ms X reports disrepair to the housing landlord and it is not dealt with within a reasonable period she may submit a complaint to the Housing Ombudsman service.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Ms 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