Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council failed to notify her of its decision to refuse her housing register application in 2023 and has refused to agree her reasonable adjustment requests. She says this has caused distress, means she lost her right to a statutory review of the decision, and she remains in unsuitable housing. She wants the Council to make her a direct offer of suitable housing.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council did not notify her it had refused her housing register application in October 2023. She says she only became aware in April 2025, and this delay means she has lost her statutory right of review. She also says it has failed to meet her reasonable adjustment requests. She says the errors have caused distress and her current housing is affecting her health. She wants the Council to make her a direct offer of housing or accept her on its housing register and backdate her qualifying date to 2022, and pay compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
3. 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
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

4. 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)
5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Ms X says she only became aware of the October 2023 decision when she visited Council offices in 2025. As she did not receive the decision letter at the time, I have decided this is good reason why Ms X has not approached us sooner and have exercised discretion to consider this complaint.
9. In its complaint response, the Council said it had assessed her housing application in 2023 but decided she was not eligible. It said its records show it did post the decision letter to her at the time, and that it was not returned undelivered. It said given the time that had passed, it was difficult to investigate why she had not received the decision letter.
10. It said as two years had passed, it could not reconsider the original decision as the information in her original application was likely to be inaccurate or have changed. It accepted there had been delay assessing her application in 2022 and 2023 and poor communication at that time. It apologised to her for this but said this did not change the decision that it had reached at that time.
11. It said if she had any new evidence that it had not previously considered, she could submit this for consideration.
12. We will not investigate this complaint. The Council says its records show it sent her the decision letter in October 2023 and that it was not returned undelivered. We cannot know what happened at that time and why Ms X did not receive it, but as Council records show the letter was sent, it is unlikely we would reach a finding of fault.
13. We could also not achieve what she wants. Even if Ms X had received the letter and requested a review, we cannot know if the Council would have changed its decision. We could not ask the Council to make her a housing offer or accept her onto its housing register.
14. Ms X also says the Council has refused to meet her reasonable adjustments by not making a direct offer of housing or providing her a single point of contact. The law requires councils to have a housing allocations scheme and allocate housing in accordance with this. It has appropriately invited her to submit any new information which it will consider and decide whether is now eligible to join the housing register. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to warrant an investigation.
15. It explained that it considered her request for a single point of contact but could not accommodate this due to staffing constraints. It invited her to suggest other ways that the Council may be able to support her.
16. We will not investigate this. The Council has considered her request and explained why it cannot agree to it. As it has considered the matter and said it would consider alternative ways to support her, it is unlikely we would reach a finding of fault.
17. We cannot decide if an organisation has breached the Equality Act, this can only be done by the courts. It is open to Ms X to seek legal advice if she considers the Council has breached the Equality Act and wants to pursue the matter through the courts.

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Final decision

18. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is unlikely we would find fault, an investigation would not lead to a different outcome and if she considers the Council in breach of the Equality Act, it is open to her to take this matter to court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman