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 failure to find her an adapted bungalow. She says her current social rented ground floor flat is unsuitable for her disabled needs.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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. 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)
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. 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 the Council has not given her housing application sufficient priority because she has not been re-housed from her current flat, even though it is unsuitable. She says her disabilities mean that she requires an adapted bungalow. She had an assessment from an Occupational Therapist and this confirmed that she needed suitably adapted ground floor housing.
7. On the Occupational Therapist’s recommendation, the Council increased Miss X’s banding priority to A1 from the date of the assessment in January 2025. There is no set period for when a council should re-house someone as this depends on suitable vacancies occurring and in many cases this can be a very long wait.
8. Since Miss X compared to us the Council invited her to view a bungalow which had been identified as being suitable for her needs. However, when it carried out pre-offer verification checks it decided that Miss X’s record of anti-social behaviour (ASB) and a notice of seeking possession from her current landlord for ASB meant that she is ineligible for offers from the Council’s social housing provider.
9. Miss X complained about this but it is part of the Council’s housing allocations policy. The Ombudsman may not find fault with a council’s assessment of a housing application/ 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 and the Council should apply its policy to all applicants.
10. Miss X’s social landlord has applied to the court for a possession order and we have no jurisdiction to investigate tenancy management issues by social housing landlords.

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Final decision

11. 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