Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Ms X’s homeless and housing applications from 2022. The complaint about her homeless application was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the assessment of her housing application.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council’s failure to consider her for a mutual exchange when she approached it as being threatened with homelessness in 2022. She says she was not offered alternative social housing when she told the Council she was threatened with domestic abuse. She says the Council has failed to update her banding priority on the housing register since 2023.

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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
• would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal

(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 and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X contacted the Council in 2022 when she says her car was damaged by a former partner who had threatened her with domestic abuse. After an interview in August, she was informed that the Council considered her to be homeless and offered her temporary accommodation until her case could be decided under homelessness legislation.
6. Miss X told the Council that she would not accept temporary or interim accommodation and wanted to be transferred to alternative social housing as she is a housing association assured tenant. She did not want to give up her assured housing association tenancy for a temporary home.
7. She says the officer told her that she would be placed on the exchange list but that only temporary accommodation was available to homeless applicants who could not reasonably occupy their home. In a later contact with the Council in November she said that she was prepared to remain in her home as her social housing landlord had improved security at her home.
8. The Council had little contact from Miss X until May 2023 when she submitted a complaint about her housing application banding being the lowest and that she was not being considered for an exchange. The Council advised her that she was still considered as homeless and that she was issued with a personal housing plan which left the option of temporary accommodation open. The Council is not responsible for mutual exchanges between social housing tenants, this is the responsibility of the social housing landlord.
9. The Council reminded Ms X that it still had not received all the documents and bank details it had required since her initial application in 2022. It told her that its duty was to provide her with safe accommodation from the concerns she had raised. It could not offer her social housing under homeless legislation and although under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 it would have to offer her a similar social housing tenancy eventually, this would be made according to its housing allocations policy. She may have to wait months or years before she was made a suitable offer.
10. Miss X is currently in Band 4 on the housing register and this may or may not change when she provides all the require documentation. If she is dissatisfied with the final decision on her priority she is entitled to ask for a statutory review of the decision under s.166A of the Housing Act 1996.
11. We will not consider the advice given to her when Ms X approached the Council as homeless in 2022. This is outside the normal 12-month period for receiving complaints. The Council advised her about temporary accommodation in August 2022 and if she was unhappy with the outcome she could have submitted a complaint to us within 12 months.
12. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wish to complain about, not when they complained to the Council or it issued its final response. We would expect someone to complain to us within a year, even if they were dissatisfied with the time the complaints procedure was taking.
13. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about a mutual exchange and her banding on the housing register. The Council could not place Ms X on an exchange list because this is administered by social housing landlords and is not part of the Council’s homelessness duty. When the Council has made a final assessment of her application based on the documents it requires she will have an opportunity to seek a statutory review of the decision.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Ms X’s homeless and housing applications from 2022. The complaint about her homeless application was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the assessment of her housing application.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman