Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council removing Mr X’s housing application from the housing register. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council withdrawing his successful bid on a vacancy and removing his housing application from its housing register in 2022. He says he was forced to move to another council borough in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic and did not know that he needed to inform the Council at the time. He believes his application should be re-instated.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council’s response. 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. Mr X says after making a successful bid on a vacancy in 2022 the Council informed him that the vacancy was withdrawn and his housing application removed from the housing register following verification checks. Mr X had applied for housing in 2019 and says he moved out of the borough in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic because he had no fixed address at the time.
6. The Council’s housing allocations policy requires applicants to have been resident in the borough for the past 5 years to be eligible for entry to the housing register. Because Mr X had moved outside the borough his 5 years residence period was broken and he was not eligible for the vacancy or to remain on the register.
7. The allocations policy also requires applicants to inform the Council of any changes in circumstances on their application and failure to do say may result in an offer being withdrawn or ineligibility for the register. Mr X says he was unaware of this and because he was claiming housing benefit in another borough he believed the Council would have been informed in 2021.
8. Mr X asked the Council to review the decision to remove his application under s.166A of the Housing Act 1996 part 6 in February 2022. It carried out the review in April and informed him that it upheld the decision to remove him from the register. The Council considered if there were any special circumstances why he should remain eligible but he had not provided any convincing reasons for it to put to a discretionary social welfare panel.
9. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint which was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. 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.

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Final decision

10. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council removing Mr X’s housing application from the housing register. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman