Summary: Ms B complained about the Council closing her housing applications. We find that the Council failed to warn Ms B that her application would be closed if she did not provide all the required supporting documents, and it wrongly referred Ms B to our office, instead of addressing her concerns through its complaints procedure. As a result, the Council has not yet assessed Ms B’s housing application. The Council has agreed to apologise and assess Ms B’s application, and if she qualifies, it will backdate her registration and award date.

The complaint

1. Ms B complains that the Council closed her housing application as incomplete without telling her what further information it needed. As a result, she has been unable to join the Council’s housing register and she remains living in accommodation she considers uninhabitable, which she says is affecting her health.

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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. The law says that, before investigating a complaint, we must normally be satisfied that a formal complaint has been made to the Council, and they have been given a reasonable opportunity to consider it and respond. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))
4. 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

5. I have investigated Ms B’s complaint about the Council closing her housing applications as incomplete.
6. I have not investigated Ms B’s complaint about the condition of her home. Ms B lives in a Housing Association property, and we do not investigate complaints about Housing Associations. Such complaints fall within the jurisdiction of the Housing Ombudsman.
7. I have also decided not to investigate Ms B’s complaint that the Council failed to take appropriate action against her landlord in relation to disrepair. This is because I have seen no evidence to show that Ms B has made a complaint about this to the Council, or that the Council has been given a reasonable opportunity to consider and respond to it. Ms B may return to us if she remains dissatisfied after she has received a final response to her complaint from the Council.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered evidence provided by Ms B and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
9. Ms 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

10. 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))
11. 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))
12. 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))
13. 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.”

Key events

14. Ms B applied to join the Council’s housing register in July 2024. The application form outlined the required supporting documents, such as proof of identity, address, and financial records. Ms B submitted evidence to support her need for housing on medical grounds.
15. In September 2024, the Council wrote to Ms 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.
16. Ms B reapplied to join the housing register again in February 2025. She provided bank statements and a partial copy of her passport.
17. In April 2025, the Council again wrote to Ms B to tell her that her application had been closed because it was incomplete. As before, the letter stated that she needed to provide the documents listed on the application form and then reapply. It did not specify which documents were missing, although the required financial documents were highlighted in bold.
18. Ms B complained to us that the Council was refusing her housing applications while failing to take action against her landlord regarding the disrepair in her home.

Analysis

19. 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 and was not always providing applicants with clear information about why their applications were considered incomplete, leaving them uncertain about what further evidence they needed to provide.
20. 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.
21. When Ms B submitted her first housing application, the only supporting documents she provided related to her need for housing on medical grounds. While the Council was not providing clear information at the time about the specific financial records it required, it was informing applicants that they needed to provide proof of their identity, address and financial records. Ms B did not provide these documents.
22. At the time of Ms B’s application, the Council was not adequately warning applicants that it would close their application if they did not provide all the required documents. Ms B would have been more likely to submit all the required documents if she had known the consequences of not doing so.
23. However, Ms B knew the likely consequences when she submitted her second application, and the Council had provided clear information about the documents it required in the closure letter. Despite this, Ms B only provided some of the required documents.
24. On balance, I do not consider it likely that Ms B would have provided all of the required documents with either of her applications, even if the Council had explained its requirements more clearly and warned that the applications would be closed without further notice. I therefore do not consider it likely that either of Ms B’s applications would have been accepted onto the housing register if there had been no fault by the Council.
25. The letters sent by the Council when closing Ms B’s applications both stated that she had no right to request a review of the decisions, and her only recourse would be judicial review. They also advised Ms B that she could contact our office.
26. Where an application has been made in accordance with the Council’s housing allocation scheme, it must establish if the applicant is eligible and qualifies to join the register, and applicants have the right to request a review of this decision. In Ms B’s case, the Council decided her application had not been made in accordance with the scheme because she had not provided all the required documents. Ms B therefore did not have a right to request a review. However, she still had the right to lodge a complaint with the Council about how it handled her applications. The Council should have told Ms B about this right before referring her to our office. If it had done so, I consider it likely that Ms B’s application would have been assessed sooner. To remedy her injustice, I consider the Council should assess Ms B’s application and if she qualifies to join the register, it should backdate her award and registration date.

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Action

27. The Council has agreed to take the following actions within four weeks of my final decision:
• Apologise to Ms 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.
• Invite Ms B to submit another housing application and then assess it within eight weeks of submission. If Ms B submits an application within four weeks of the Council’s invitation, and she qualifies to join the housing register, the Council will backdate her registration and award date to 4 June 2025.
28. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.
29. The Council has changed its procedures since Ms B submitted her applications. I therefore do not consider any service improvement recommendations are needed.

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Decision

30. I have completed my investigation and uphold Ms 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