Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (23 016 550)
Category : Housing > Allocations
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 13 Feb 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to reject Mr X’s application for its housing register. This is because the complaint relates to events that took place more than 12 months ago and it would have been reasonable for Mr X to bring them to us at the time.
The complaint
- Mr X complained that when he applied for the Council’s housing register, it declined to accept his application.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X applied to the Council’s home choice lettings scheme in February 2022. The scheme allows approved residents to bid for council housing.
- The Council wrote to Mr X and told him he did not qualify for its housing register because he did not live in the area.
- Mr X asked the Council for a review and the Council upheld its decision, stating that because he had not lived in the Council’s area for several years, he was not eligible to join its housing scheme. Mr X then brought his complaint to the Ombudsman.
- The Ombudsman will not usually exercise discretion to investigate events that took place more than 12 months prior to the date the complainant referred the complaint to us. In this case, the Council made its decision regarding Mr X’s application several years ago. It would have been reasonable for Mr X to have brought this matter to us at the time.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the complaint relates to events that took place more than 12 months ago and it would have been reasonable for Mr X to bring them to us at the time.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman