London Borough of Tower Hamlets (25 009 728)
Category : Housing > Allocations
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 19 Nov 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council managed his housing application. This is because the complaint relates to events that took place more than 12 months ago therefore his complaint is late. There is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate these matters.
The complaint
- Mr X complained the Council cancelled his housing application in 2013 and did not consider his appeal about the cancellation properly. Mr X claimed that the loss of his original housing application has had a damaging impact on his life, having endured over a decade of overcrowding. He would like the Council to backdate his housing application to 2010 when he originally applied to the housing register.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X which included the Council’s response.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X applied to the Council’s housing register in 2010, and 2011. His 2011 application was cancelled in 2013 when the Council’s housing allocations policy changed. Mr X made a third housing application to the Council in 2017 which was accepted. The Council confirmed to Mr X in 2017 that it would not back date his application to 2010.
- The Ombudsman will not usually exercise discretion to investigate matters that took place more than 12 months prior to the complainant becoming aware of them. In this case, it would have been reasonable for Mr X to complain to the Ombudsman in 2017 when he was aware of the Council’s decision not to back date his housing application.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the complaint relates to events that took place more than 12 months ago. There is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate this matter now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman