Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council refused her housing application. She says she applied to join the Council’s housing register because she felt unsafe in her property due to antisocial behaviour from her neighbours, which was severely affecting her mental health.

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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 must 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. 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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code and the Council’s Housing Allocations Policy (dated October 2024, as available online).

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My assessment

6. In August 2024, Mrs X applied to join the Council’s housing register. She said that she needed to move because her current health conditions were affected by her housing circumstances, as well as for welfare reasons connected with antisocial behaviour by her neighbours.
7. In January 2025, the Council rejected Mrs X’s housing application. It explained she did not qualify to join its housing register because she was adequately housed and she had not provided enough evidence to show a need to move on medical or welfare grounds. This meant Mrs X did not qualify to join the housing register as she did not fall into any of the Council’s priority bandings. The Council upheld this decision on review.
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. We may not find fault with a council’s assessment of a housing application 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.
10. In this case the Council carried out a review. Its review decision shows it considered all the information it had, including Mrs X’s reasons for the review request. Its decision explained its reasons for deciding Mrs X did not meet the threshold to be awarded medical or welfare priority and why there was insufficient evidence to show Mrs X fell within any of the priority bandings. It considered its published scheme when reaching its decision, including whether exceptional circumstances existed under its scheme to register Mrs X despite not meeting the criteria for any of its priority bands. The Council’s decision was in line with its Housing Allocations Scheme. It provided Mrs X with clear advice on who to contact should she have concerns about antisocial behaviour from her neighbours, including how to report this to the Council. The outcome on the case following the review was unchanged. For these reasons, there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision-making process to justify further investigation.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman