Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application and the management of a council tenancy. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the assessment of the application. We cannot investigate the complaint about the management of housing by social housing landlords.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council’s failure to make her any offers or to find an alternative to her overcrowding situation in her current council-rented home. She says she has a family of 9 persons and needs a 5-bedroom property but she has been told they are in short supply and it may be many years before she may receive an offer.
2. She also complained about the Council’s failure to properly deal with her reports of disrepair, rats and mould in her home.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council’s responses.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

7. Mrs X is a council tenant with a family of 9 members and she is registered on the housing list for a 5-bedroom property. The Council has prioritised her application as Band B and has advised that it may take up to 8 years at the current rate of vacancies before she is likely to receive an offer. Mrs X says the Council has not told her how it plans to rehouse her in the near future other than that it cannot extend her current home.
8. Councils have a duty to assess applications for housing under their housing allocations schemes. There is no duty to rehouse applicants within a specific timescale and there is a long waiting time for all types of housing in many areas.
9. 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 you disagree with the decision the organisation made.
10. Mrs X asked the Council to review her application and it was not given any additional priority. The Council says that if she has any new change of circumstances in future which may affect her priority she could ask for a new review.
11. We 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.
12. Mrs X also complained about the Council’s failure to properly address reports of dampness, rats and disrepair issues. We cannot investigate complaints about the management of social housing tenancies and the Council advised Mrs X to contact the Housing Ombudsman service which is the body responsible for investigating such complaints.

Back to top

Final decision

13. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application and the management of a council tenancy. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the assessment of the application. We cannot investigate the complaint about the management of housing by social housing landlords.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman