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

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s failure to rehouse her since she applied to the waiting list in 2019. She says her partner and one of her children have mental health conditions and she has been given no indication of when she will be made an offer of accommodation.

Back to top

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 how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council. I have also considered the Council’s housing allocations policy.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

5. Miss X says she has been on the housing list since 2019 and that she has family members with medical needs. She is currently on Band B under the housing allocations policy and the Council will not tell her when she will be rehoused.
6. The Council says it accepts that she is living in overcrowded circumstances and that her family have medical needs but there are currently 300 other applicants with identified need for 3-bedroomed accommodation. At the current demand it takes an average of 35 months for an offer to occur but this may change as the housing list changes. It cannot tell Miss X when she may have a successful offer.
7. I have seen no evidence of fault which would suggest that Miss X should be placed in a higher banding than the current one under the allocations policy. We 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. The Council has no duty to rehouse applicants within a particular timeframe and any offers depend on the availability of vacancies in the public and private sector and the level of housing need by the applicants on the housing list.

Back to top

Final decision

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

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman