Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to permanently move a tenant from a social housing tenancy due to disrepair. We have no power to investigate complaints about the Council acting in its capacity as social landlord. 

The complaint

1. Mrs X is a council tenant. In 2024, the Council decanted Mrs X from her home to another property for a period while it did works at Mrs X’s home.
2. Mrs X complains the Council is forcing her to return to the original property as it has completed the works there. She wishes to remain in the decant property because she has settled there with her family and it meets the family’s bedroom needs.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code and the Council’s Housing Allocations Policy (dated August 2022).

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My assessment

7. Mrs X is a council tenant with a tenancy for a two-bedroom property. The Council has awarded her Band B priority based on Mrs X having high medical needs to move with an eligibility to bid on three-bedroom properties.
8. In 2024, the Council decanted Mrs X and her family from her home to a three-bedroom property while it carried out repair works at her home.
9. Mrs X is unhappy the Council refused her request to permanently move to the three-bedroom property. The Council explained that it needed the decant property to be available for other families in need of an urgent temporary decant. The Council’s refusal regarding the decant was made in its role as her social housing provider. It is not within our remit to consider these complaints because the restriction in paragraph four above applies. We cannot investigate the complaint because it concerns the provision and management of the Council’s social housing.
10. For the same reason, we cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the repairs in the original two-bedroom property are not sufficient and the property is dangerous to live in.
11. In its complaint response, the Council signposted Mrs X to the Housing Ombudsman. The Housing Ombudsman potentially deals with complaints about decants and disrepair in social housing. It is open to Mrs X to complain to the Housing Ombudsman and they will reach their own decision about whether the complaint falls within their jurisdiction.

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Final decision

12. We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to permanently move a tenant from a social housing tenancy due to disrepair. We have no power to investigate complaints about the Council acting in its capacity as social landlord.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman