Summary: A woman complained that a housing association unreasonably refused to offer her a property the Council had nominated her for. But we will not investigate this matter because there is no sign of fault by the Council, and we cannot look at the actions of the housing association.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall call Mrs B, complained about a housing association’s (‘the Association’) refusal to offer her a social housing property she had been nominated for by the Council. Mrs B complained in particular that the association unfairly decided she had withheld significant personal information in a housing needs assessment it carried out.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if, for example, we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or there is another body better placed to consider the complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. But we cannot investigate the actions of housing associations. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), as amended)
4. The Housing Ombudsman Service (‘HOS’) investigates complaints from tenants and leaseholders of housing associations and, in certain cases, applicants for housing association properties.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information HOS provided to us about Mrs B’s complaint. I also took account of the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mrs B applied for rehousing through the Council’s choice-based lettings scheme. The Council awarded Mrs B a high priority for a move because of her personal circumstances.
7. The Association has an agreement with the Council to accept nominations of priority applicants for its available properties. The Council matched Mrs B to an Association property and made a nomination.
8. The Association’s policy is to carry out an assessment of every applicant’s status and suitability for the property on offer. The policy says the Association may refuse a nomination in certain circumstances, for example, where the applicant has an existing housing debt or breached a previous tenancy. The Association also reserves the right to suspend an applicant for providing false information.
9. The Association carried out an assessment in Mrs B’s case. But it decided to refuse her nomination on the basis she had not disclosed important personal information during the assessment. The Association then asked the Council to nominate someone else for the property
10. Mrs B strongly denies that she deliberately withheld any information, so she feels she was unfairly denied the offer of a property which was suitable for her needs.
11. However I do not see that we should start an investigation of Mrs B’s complaint. First, we can only consider the Council’s part in the allocations process. But I see no sign of fault by the Council in this case. The Council fulfilled its role in prioritising Mrs B’s application under its Housing allocations scheme, matching her to a property and then nominating her to the Association. But the Council’s responsibility for the allocation ended when it made the nomination.
12. Mrs B has not complained about the Council’s involvement in the allocation process. Her complaint is about how the Association dealt with her case after it received the Council’s nomination. But the Association was making a decision under its own Allocations and Lettings Policy and not acting on the Council’s behalf at that stage. Therefore we cannot look into this matter as we have no jurisdiction to investigate the actions of housing associations.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs B's complaint that a housing association unfairly refused to accept her nomination by the Council for one of its properties. There is no sign of fault by the Council, and we have no powers to consider the actions of the housing association.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman