Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s decision that her housing transfer application did not qualify her for the Housing Register because it says that she is adequately housed in her current council home. She disagrees with the Council’s decision to dismiss her application and its subsequent review outcome.

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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 use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating; or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation; or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
  (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered 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 the Council has not fairly considered her application for a housing transfer. She says the current home she is occupying is small for her family’s needs and she requires an additional bedroom for her son who cannot share a bedroom without disturbing his siblings due to his autism. She wants the Council to reconsider its decision that she does not qualify for the housing register.
6. Miss X asked the Council to review its assessment of her housing application in December 2024. She explained in detail why she wants to be moved from her current tenancy. The Council issued its review response in February 2025.
7. The Council told Miss X that she does not qualify for the housing register because she is considered to be adequately housed in her present home which is a 2-bedroomed council property. It says there is insufficient medical evidence that her son poses any risk to her other children to warrant an additional bedroom. It also says that in September 2025 she will be eligible to bid on 3-bedroom homes when her son is sixteen. However, there is high demand for these properties.
8. 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 someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
9. I have read all the correspondence and I can see nothing which indicates that Miss X’s housing application has been given the wrong priority. We may not find fault with a council’s assessment of a housing application or 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.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman