Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council removing an 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 Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council removing her application from the housing register without her knowledge. She says she should have been on the register from 2010/11 and that she only found out she had no application in 2023. She wants the Council to re-instate her application.

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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 provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, 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 she found out when she made a homelessness enquiry in 2023 that her housing application had been removed from the system. She says she assumed she was still registered since 2010/11 and that she had not been told otherwise.
6. Miss X complained to the Council in 2024 and it confirmed that she had no record of submitting an application. She was rehoused following a homeless application in 2013 and any previous application would have needed to be renewed at the time due to the change of address. The Council’s policy requires an applicant to renew their application each year to verify the information is up to date. The Council asked Miss X to provide any evidence of her application but she failed to do so.
7. We will not investigate this compalint which was received outside the normal 12-period for consideration. Miss X says she was notified in 2023 of the situation but did not complain to us until 2025. 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

8. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council removing an 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 Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman