Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Miss X’s housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation. We will not exercise discretion to investigate the offers of housing made to her in 2021 because this is outside the normal 12-month period for receiving complaints.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s assessment of her housing application. She says she should have been awarded a higher banding from 2021 and not 2023 when she was re-assessed. She also says the Council unreasonably reduced her banding and that the property she lives in was unsuitable for her needs when offered to her in 2021 due to neighbour issues.

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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)
3. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Miss X says she has been given insufficient priority for her housing application since she moved into her home in 2021. She was awarded Band B priority but says that she should have had higher banding because of problems with her neighbours and her son’s need for a separate bedroom. In 2023 she was awarded Band A following an assessment of her home but this was later reduced back to Band B when the Council said there were no recent incidents with her neighbours.
7. Miss X says the award of Band A should have been backdated to 2021. The Council told her that the award of new priority is from the date when the application was re-assessed and a higher or lower banding was approved, not from the date when someone first applied. I have read the allocations policy and this procedure is correct.
8. 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.
9. Miss X says the property offered to her in 2021 was unsuitable because of the behaviour of neighbours and their pets and because of vermin in the area. She did not complain to us about this until 2024 which is outside the normal 12-month timescale for receiving complaints. We have some discretion to consider older complaints but if she had approached us in 2021-22 we would have advised her to ask for a statutory review of suitability at the time. This also carries a further right of appeal to the County Court.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Miss X’s housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation. We will not exercise discretion to investigate the offers of housing made to her in 2021 because this is outside the normal 12-month period for receiving complaints.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman