Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the suitability of Mr X’s temporary accommodation as he had the right to ask the Council for a review of the suitability and it is reasonable to expect him to have done so. We will not investigate how the Council considered Mr X’s housing priority as there is insufficient evidence of injustice to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained that the Council:

• Provided unsuitable temporary accommodation which does not meet his needs as a wheelchair user or his son’s needs and pressurised him into signing the tenancy.
• Provided a decorating voucher that was insufficient to meet the costs of decorating the property.
• Failed to consider his and his son’s medical evidence when considering their priority on the housing register.

2. Mr X considers that as a result he and his family are living in unsuitable accommodation which is unsafe for his son. Mr X says he also incurred significant costs in decorating the property.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
4. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. 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:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or

• it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal.

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

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

7. The Council offered temporary accommodation to Mr X and his family. Mr X considered the property to be unsuitable but said the Council put pressure on him to accept the offer. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because Mr X had the right to ask the Council to review the suitability of the accommodation. Mr X would also have had the right to appeal to the county court on a point of law if his review request was unsuccessful. The Council notified Mr X of his right to request a review in its letter offering the property to him. It is therefore reasonable to expect Mr X to have requested a review of the suitability of the property.
8. The Council offered a voucher to Mr X for decoration costs. Mr X said that he had to spend significantly more than the value of the voucher to decorate the property. Before we can investigate a complaint, we must be satisfied the Council is aware of the complaint and had a reasonable opportunity to consider it. So, we generally expect people to complete the Council’s complaints procedure before complaining to us. Mr X has not complained to the Council about the decorating costs so we cannot consider this complaint. Mr X should therefore make a complaint to the Council and complete its complaints procedure. Mr X may be able to make a complaint to us once the Council has completed its consideration of his complaint.
9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council considered his housing priority band. The Council considered Mr X’s priority through its two stage review procedure and awarded band A to him. Even if there was evidence of fault in how the Council considered Mr X’s review requests, this will not have caused significant injustice to Mr X. This is because the Council awarded the highest priority to him. So, there is insufficient evidence of injustice to justify an investigation into this aspect of Mr X’s complaint.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman