Summary: Miss B complained about the Council closing her housing application. We find that the Council did not clearly explain which documents she needed to provide and then closed her application as incomplete without specifying what additional evidence she needed to supply. The Council also failed to make a referral to its homelessness team. The Council’s failings caused Miss B unnecessary frustration and inconvenience and meant she did not receive timely housing advice. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment to Miss B, and make service improvements.

The complaint

1. Miss B complains that the Council closed her housing application as incomplete, without explaining what information was missing. She says this has caused her unnecessary frustration and distress and has prevented her from joining the Council’s housing register.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(1), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

4. I have investigated how the Council handled the housing application Miss B submitted in March 2025. I have not investigated how the Council handled any applications she submitted after she complained to us.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Miss B and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Miss B and the Council have had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Housing allocations

7. Every local housing authority must publish an allocation scheme that sets out how it prioritises applicants, and its procedures for allocating housing. All allocations must be made in strict accordance with the published scheme. (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(1) & (14))
8. Every application made to a local housing authority for an allocation of housing accommodation shall (if made in accordance with the procedural requirements of the authority’s allocation scheme) be considered by the authority. In considering applications, authorities must ascertain:
• if an applicant is eligible for an allocation of accommodation, and
• if he or she qualifies for an allocation of accommodation. (Allocation of accommodation: guidance for local housing authorities in England, paragraph 3.2 and Housing Act 1996, section 166(3))
9. Applicants have the right to request a review of a decision that they are ineligible for an allocation, or that they are not a qualifying person. (Housing Act 1996, section 160ZA(9) and section 166A(9))
10. Paragraph 2.2.3 of the Council’s housing allocation scheme says:

“In addition to the application, the following documents (where available) must be submitted as evidence, via the Scheme website to verify the information provided by the main applicant, plus any other person who might reside with the applicant who might wish to become a joint tenant:

1. Passport, to help determine eligibility to rent social housing in England.
2. A utility or Council Tax bill from the past three months, to help determine eligibility to rent social housing in England.
3. Birth certificate, to help determine qualification to join the Scheme.
4. Details of any relevant unspent convictions, to help determine qualification to join the Scheme.
5. All financial records from the past three months relating to income and savings, to help determine qualification to join the Scheme.
6. All legal records relating to property ownership to help determine qualification to join the Scheme.
7. Any other information that helps to determine eligibility to rent social housing in England, qualification to join the Scheme or making a community contribution.”
1. The scheme places applicants in a priority band from Band A (highest priority) to Band D (lowest priority). Applicants whose circumstances do not warrant inclusion in any of the bands are considered to have no housing need and do not qualify to join the housing register.

Homelessness

12. If someone contacts a council seeking accommodation or help to obtain accommodation and gives ‘reason to believe’ they ‘may be’ homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days, the council has a duty to make enquiries into what, if any, further duty it owes them. The threshold for triggering the duty to make enquiries is low. The person does not have to complete a specific form or approach a particular department of the council. (Housing Act 1996, section 184 and Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraphs 6.2 and 18.5)

Key events

13. Miss B applied to join the housing register in March 2025. The application form outlined the required supporting documents, such as proof of identity, address, and financial records. Miss B submitted several documents to support her application.
14. Later that month, the Council wrote to Miss B to tell her that it had closed her housing application because it was incomplete. The letter stated that she needed to provide the documents listed on the application form and then reapply. It did not specify which of those documents she had not provided.
15. Miss B believed she had already provided all the required documents. As the Council’s letter stated that she had no right to request a review of the Council’s decision, she complained to our office.
16. Following our involvement, the Council said it would reassess Miss B’s application and backdate her award date if she was found to qualify to join the housing register. It wrote to Miss B asking her to add other members of her household to her application. After she did so, the Council assessed her application and decided that she did not qualify to join the housing register.
17. We asked the Council whether it had made a referral to its homelessness team, as Miss B had stated in her application that she was sofa surfing. The Council then contacted Miss B to consider whether it owed her any homelessness duties. Its records show that it closed the case because Miss B did not agree to the Council’s request to carry out a home visit.

Analysis

18. The Council accepts that, before June 2025, it did not adequately warn applicants that their housing application would be closed if they did not provide all the required documents. It also acknowledges that it did not provide clear information about the financial records it required, or what documents it would accept as proof of address when applicants were unable to supply a utility or council tax bill. For some time, the Council was not providing applicants with clear information about why their applications were considered incomplete, leaving them uncertain about what further evidence they needed to provide.
19. In June 2025, the Council changed its procedures. It no longer closes applications as incomplete when supporting documents are missing. Instead, it writes to applicants specifying which documents are outstanding and asks for them to be provided within ten days.
20. The Council’s records for this case show that Miss B had provided proof of identity, address and income with her application, but she had not provided any bank statements. When Miss B applied, it was not clear that she needed to provide bank statements, and when the Council closed her application, it did not explain why her application was incomplete. This was fault. If there had been no fault by the Council here, Miss B would not have been put to the time and trouble of complaining to us, and her application would have been assessed sooner.
21. When the Council assessed Miss B’s application in September 2025, it decided she did not qualify to join the register. I therefore do not consider she would have been accepted onto the register if her application had been assessed earlier, as it should have been.
22. When Miss B applied in March 2025, she selected “hardship” and “overcrowding” from a list of reasons for needing housing. However, in the free text sections, she also stated that she was homeless and sofa surfing. The Council failed to take account of this information and make a referral to its homelessness team.
23. As a result, Miss B did not receive homelessness advice or assistance at that time. However, based on the available evidence, I consider it unlikely that the Council would have decided it owed Miss B a duty to secure accommodation had it made the referral in March 2025.
24. The Council accepts that staff should have checked the free text sections and made a referral to its homelessness team and says it will be issuing a reminder to staff.

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Action

25. The Council has agreed to take the following actions within four weeks of my final decision:
• Apologise to Miss B for the failings identified in this case. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance when making the apology.
• Make a payment of £150 to Miss B. This is a symbolic payment to acknowledge the distress and avoidable inconvenience caused by the Council’s failures, which resulted in her not receiving timely housing advice and assistance in relation to her homelessness, and in having to pursue matters to secure assessment of her housing application.
26. The Council has also agreed to take the following action within eight weeks of my final decision:
• Remind staff to check all information included on housing application forms and to make a referral to the Council’s homelessness team if an applicant indicates that they may be homeless.
27. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

28. I have completed my investigation and uphold Miss B’s complaint. There was fault by the Council which caused injustice. The action the Council has agreed to take is sufficient to remedy that injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman