Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s rejection of an application to its housing register. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s decision to reject her request to be on it housing register. She says her current temporary accommodation will end soon and she wishes to remain in the Council’s area not her own.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the 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 says the Council refused her application to the housing register. She asked it to reconsider in a statutory review but the review upheld the decision that she does not qualify to be on the register under the Council’s allocations scheme because her current housing is suitable for her needs.
6. Miss X was placed in the Council’s area by another London Borough which accepted a homeless duty towards her. She is currently in temporary accommodation but she says she has been served with a notice to quit and does not want to leave the area after being housed there for two years. The Council says she has no medical or overcrowding priority in her current temporary accommodation and if it comes to an end her own council retains the duty to find her alternative accommodation under the homeless legislation.
7. 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.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s rejection of an application to its housing register. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman