Summary: Mrs B complained about the Council’s decision to close her housing applications. We find that the Council wrongly decided her application was incomplete, despite her submitting all the required evidence. This caused avoidable frustration for Mrs B and delayed her ability to join the housing register. The Council has agreed to assess Mrs B’s application and, if she qualifies to join the register, it will backdate her award date. It has also agreed to apologise to Mrs B, make a symbolic payment to her, and carry out service improvements.

The complaint

1. Mrs B complains that the Council closed her housing applications as incomplete, despite her providing all the required documents. She says the Council has failed to specify which documents it considers to be missing.
2. Mrs B says that as a result of the Council’s actions, her family remains living a significant distance from Birmingham, where her son needs regular specialist medical treatment and where she will have the support of close relatives.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Mrs B and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Mrs B and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Housing allocations

7. Every local housing authority must publish an allocation scheme that sets out how it prioritises applicants, and its procedures for allocating housing. All allocations must be made in strict accordance with the published scheme. (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(1) & (14))
8. Every application made to a local housing authority for an allocation of housing accommodation shall (if made in accordance with the procedural requirements of the authority’s allocation scheme) be considered by the authority. In considering applications, authorities must ascertain:
• if an applicant is eligible for an allocation of accommodation, and
• if he or she qualifies for an allocation of accommodation. (Allocation of accommodation: guidance for local housing authorities in England, paragraph 3.2 and Housing Act 1996, section 166(3))
9. Applicants have the right to request a review of a decision that they are ineligible for an allocation, or that they are not a qualifying person. (Housing Act 1996, section 160ZA(9) and section 166A(9))
10. Paragraph 2.2.3 of the Council’s housing allocation scheme says:

“In addition to the application, the following documents (where available) must be submitted as evidence, via the Scheme website to verify the information provided by the main applicant, plus any other person who might reside with the applicant who might wish to become a joint tenant:

1. Passport, to help determine eligibility to rent social housing in England.
2. A utility or Council Tax bill from the past three months, to help determine eligibility to rent social housing in England.
3. Birth certificate, to help determine qualification to join the Scheme.
4. Details of any relevant unspent convictions, to help determine qualification to join the Scheme.
5. All financial records from the past three months relating to income and savings, to help determine qualification to join the Scheme.
6. All legal records relating to property ownership to help determine qualification to join the Scheme.
7. Any other information that helps to determine eligibility to rent social housing in England, qualification to join the Scheme or making a community contribution.”

Background and key events

11. Mrs B lives with her husband and three children. In June 2024, she applied to join the Council’s housing register. She said that her son needs specialist medical services which are only available in Birmingham, which is a significant distance from her home.
12. The application form listed the evidence she needed to provide with her application, such as ID, proof of address, and financial records. Mrs B submitted all the required documents, except for proof of her husband’s immigration status.
13. In September, the Council wrote to Mrs B to tell her that it had closed her application because it was incomplete. The letter stated that in order to validate and assess her application, all documents listed on the application form had to be submitted. It advised her to reapply once she had uploaded all the required documents.
14. Mrs B contacted the Council because she believed she had already provided all the required documents. She was told that she had not provided proof of her husband’s immigration status.
15. Mrs B reapplied and provided the required evidence. However, in October, the Council closed Mrs B’s application because it considered it was also incomplete. Its letter stated that she needed to submit all the documents listed on the application form. It did not specify which of those documents Mrs B had not provided.

Analysis

Closure of applications

16. When the Council determines that a housing applicant has not provided all the required documents, it closes the application without offering the applicant the opportunity to provide any missing documents. This approach has caused delays for applicants because they have to reapply and wait for the Council to consider their next application.
17. After Mrs B was told that she had not provided proof of her husband’s immigration status, she immediately sent it to the Council and reapplied to join the register. However, the Council failed to recognise that she had already provided the rest of the required evidence. This led to the Council deciding that her application was incomplete. It wrongly believed she had only provided proof of her husband’s immigration status and not the other required documentation. The checklist the Council completed when it was checking the documents Mrs B had provided with her first application clearly showed that only the proof of immigration status was missing. The Council’s failure to check its records before closing Mrs B’s second application was fault.
18. When the Council wrote to Mrs B to tell her that it had closed her second application, it did not specify exactly which documents it considered were missing, and so she was unsure what else she needed to provide. The Council says that it has since changed its procedures to ensure that its letters specify the documents the applicant needs to provide when reapplying.
19. Under the Housing Act 1996, when an application is made in accordance with a council’s housing allocation scheme, the council must determine whether the applicant is eligible and qualifies to join the register. In this case, the Council did not make this decision because it considered Mrs B’s applications had not been made in accordance with the scheme due to the missing documents. However, Mrs B’s second application did meet the scheme’s requirements. I consider the Council failed to comply with its legal duty to decide if she qualified to join the register. This was fault. If the Council had made a decision on eligibility or qualification, Mrs B would have had a right to request a review of the decision.
20. The letters sent by the Council when closing Mrs B’s applications stated that she had no right to request a review of the decision, and her only recourse would be judicial review. They also advised Mrs B that she could contact our office. I consider the Council should have told Mrs B that she could lodge a complaint with the Council about its handling of her application, before it referred her to our office.

Injustice

21. The Council’s failures have caused Mrs B avoidable frustration and inconvenience and have delayed her ability to join the housing register. It has been around 10 months since Mrs B originally applied to join the Council’s housing register. If there had been no fault in this case, I consider it likely that Mrs B’s application would have been assessed by 17 September 2024. I do not consider it likely that Mrs B has missed out on any properties.

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Action

22. The Council says that it changed its processes in November 2024 and since then, its closure letter includes the specific information the applicant is required to provide. It says it no longer requests evidence which has already been provided.
23. The Council says it has also amended its closure letter to ensure applicants are directed to its complaints procedure, rather than to our office.
24. The Council has agreed to take the following actions within four weeks of my final decision:
• Apologise to Mrs B for the failings identified in this case. The Council will consider our guidance on remedies when making the apology.
• Make a payment of £200 to Mrs B. This is a symbolic payment to acknowledge the avoidable frustration and inconvenience caused by the Council’s actions.
• Assess Mrs B’s application. If she qualifies to join the housing register, it will backdate her award and registration date to 17 September 2024.
25. The Council has agreed to take the following actions within eight weeks of my final decision:
• Review its procedures to ensure it checks which documents an applicant has already provided and does not base its decision on only the documents submitted with the latest application. It will also remind all officers that a thorough check of all documents previously provided should be undertaken.
• Consider amending its procedures to give applicants additional time to submit missing documents before their application is closed, to prevent unnecessary delays.
• If the Council continues to close applications without giving applicants an opportunity to submit any missing documents, it will amend the application form to include a clear warning about the consequences of not submitting all required evidence.
26. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

27. I have completed my investigation and uphold Mrs B’s complaint. There was fault by the Council which caused injustice. The action the Council has agreed to take is sufficient to remedy that injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman