Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to reduce Mr X’s housing priority as there is insufficient evidence of fault and injustice to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained that the Council wrongly changed his housing priority band from band B to band C which has prevented him from successfully bidding on a property.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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, any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

4. Some years ago, Mr X made a homelessness application to the Council. The Council decided Mr X did not have priority need so it did not have a homelessness duty to him. Mr X also applied to the Council’s housing register. The Council initially placed him in priority band C and then in band B.
5. In 2025, Mr X complained to the Council that it had reduced his priority to band C. Mr X considered this was incorrect as he thought he was living in temporary accommodation provided by the Council. The Council explained that it had found that it wrongly placed Mr X in band B. This was because it incorrectly thought it owed a homelessness duty to him. The Council placed him in band C and backdated his qualifying date in band C to when he joined the housing register.
6. The Council also confirmed that Mr X was living in private rented accommodation which it helped him to secure by paying the deposit. It was not temporary accommodation provided by the Council.
7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council wrongly placed him in band C. The Council’s records show that it did not accept a homelessness duty for Mr X or provide temporary accommodation to him. So, there is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council decided Mr X’s priority should be reduced to band C to justify an investigation.
8. The Council acknowledged it wrongly placed Mr X in band B. But this did not cause significant injustice to Mr X as he had higher housing priority than he should have done for some years. So, there is insufficient evidence of injustice to Mr X to justify an investigation into his complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman