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 rejecting her housing application as being ineligible under its housing allocations policy. She says her current home is insecure because she is an unauthorised occupant and cannot afford to pay the full rental charge.

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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)

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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.

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My assessment

5. Miss X says her housing application was rejected because she does not meet the criteria for the Council’s allocation scheme. She says she is worried she may become homeless because she is occupying her sister’s tenancy after she left some time ago.
6. The Council rejected this application as it had done two previous ones. It says she is currently adequately housed and the landlord has accepted her payments without issuing any possession notice over the past years. The accommodation currently meets her housing needs and so she is ineligible under the policy.
7. Miss X asked the Council to review the decision under s.166A of the housing act 1996. The Council reviewed the decision but it did not change the outcome that she is ineligible.
8. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
9. 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

10. 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.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman