Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s assessment of her housing application. she says her mother’s social rented home where she lives suffers from disrepair and mould. She also says there are neighbour problems and she wants to be re-housed by the Council with a higher priority.

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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, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, 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))

3. 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

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council’s responses. I have also considered the Council’s housing allocations policy.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Miss X says she is living in her mother’s home and wants the Council to re-house her due to disrepair and neighbour problems. Her mother is a social housing tenant and she has already made a complaint to the Housing Ombudsman service about these matters. We have no jurisdiction to consider complaints by social housing tenants about their landlords.
7. Miss X has been on the housing register in her own name since 2018 and in 2024 her application was updated. The Council says she has no reasonable preference and so she is not eligible to bid on vacancies. This is because she is considered to be adequately housed and is not facing overcrowding or homelessness. Miss X could ask the Council to review her application assessment under s. 166A of the Housing Act 1996 if she believes it has incorrectly considered her circumstances.
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 or a housing applicant’s priority 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.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman