Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council withdrew a housing offer. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice. In addition, we cannot investigate the actions of Housing Associations.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, says the Council withdrew a housing offer even though he urgently needs to move. Mr X says officers were malicious, corrupt and acted illegally. Mr X needs a suitable home.

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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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of Housing Associations. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X lives in an unsuitable property; he needs a wheelchair adapted, three or four bedroom home. The Council agrees his home is unsuitable, accepted a homelessness duty, and placed Mr X in the top band on the housing register.
6. The Council notified Mr X of a Housing Association property that might be suitable. However, the Housing Association said it would not offer the home because there were only two bedrooms. The Council did not formally offer the property to Mr X to avoid overcrowding. While the Council was considering this property, it temporarily stopped Mr X from bidding. The Council reversed this action and Mr X can bid and remains in band one.
7. Mr X has been on the housing register since 2019. Since then, the Council has increased his banding, offered floating support, signposted to a specific Housing Association and to an outreach team, offered temporary accommodation and explained there is a shortage of wheelchair adapted larger homes.
8. In response to Mr X’s complaint, the Council said it did not offer the property but was exploring whether it would be suitable. It explained it did not offer it because it was too small. The Council said there was no evidence of wrong-doing by officers. The Council acknowledged there are improvements it could make regarding communication. It said it would review communications including providing information about bidding suspensions, explaining what being in band one means, and explaining the difference between informal and formal offers. The Council also said it would improve signposting as it could have provided information to Mr X about the Occupational Therapy (OT) service.
9. I appreciate Mr X may have felt frustrated and disappointed when the Council withdrew the property. However, I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council did not formally offer the property but explored whether it would be suitable. The Housing Association decided the property was too small and would not have offered Mr X a tenancy. The Council had to tell Mr X it could not offer the property. There is nothing to suggest fault or misconduct by officers.
10. There were some communication issues which the Council could have handled more effectively. But, this does not need an investigation because the Council has already decided to review the information it provides; any misunderstanding by Mr X did not have an impact requiring an investigation. For example, while Mr X may have felt distressed when he found he could not bid, his bidding was reinstated and he did not lose out on a property. And, while the Council did not signpost to OT, it had already signposted Mr X to other sources of support.
11. Finally, the Housing Association decided not to offer a tenancy to Mr X. I cannot comment on this further because the Housing Association is not part of the Council.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice and because we cannot investigate the actions of Housing Associations.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman