Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application in 2024. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner. We cannot investigate his complaints about a discretionary housing management transfer request or the council’s management of tenancy matters. These matters are outside our jurisdiction.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s decision not to award higher priority for his housing application in 2024. He says he needed to move urgently because of threats of retaliation from a neighbour over anti-social behaviour (ASB) allegations. He says also that the Council rejected his request for a discretionary management transfer because it says he does not meet the criteria.

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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 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.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X asked the Council for an urgent move from his current tenancy in 2024 following a court case involving allegations by a neighbour claiming he was responsible for assault and ASB. He says the Council decided to close the case but that his neighbour continued to make false allegations and caused damage to his and his partner’s vehicles. The Council says the Police found insufficient evidence of this being connected to his neighbour.
7. The Council reviewed his housing application and told him in August 2024 it remained unchanged from a similar review in 2023 as his circumstances were not sufficiently different. Mr X did not complain to us about the assessment of his application within 12 months. I have seen no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner.
8. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wished to complain about, not when they complained to the Council or it issued its final response. We would expect someone to complain to us within a year, even if they were dissatisfied with the time the complaints procedure was taking.
9. The Council also told Mr X in the same letter that it did not believe his request for a management transfer met the criteria of its policy on such discretionary transfers. The Council advised him to complain to the housing Ombudsman because he said the ASB he was experiencing was not being dealt with by the Council landlord and he needed to move. The Housing Ombudsman subsequently found some fault with the Council’s assessment of risk.
10. We cannot investigate the prioritising of management transfers because they are not within the 1996 Housing Act allocations provisions and are discretionary decisions made by the housing landlord.

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Final decision

11. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application in 2024. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner. We cannot investigate his complaints about a discretionary housing management transfer request or the council’s management of tenancy matters. These matters are outside our jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman