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. We will not exercise discretion to investigate a complaint about the suitability of temporary accommodation in 2023. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s refusal to accept her housing application to the housing register. She also complained about the suitability of temporary accommodation which she was placed in and left in 2023.

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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
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

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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 Conucil’s housing allocations policy.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Miss X says she was placed in unsuitable temporary accommodation in 2023 by the Council under its homelessness duty. She left the accommodation in October 2023 and did not complain to us until November 2025. Miss X was aware of the state of the accommodation more than 12 months before she brought it to our attention. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.
7. 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.
8. Miss X also complained about the Council’s refusal to accept her housing application of 2025 onto the housing register. It says that she has not provided sufficient evidence that she has been resident in the area for 3 of the last 5 years which is a requirement of the allocations policy.
9. Miss X says she was a minor for the earliest part of her residence and she has no documents which meet the Council’s requirements. The Council considered this in a s.166A review of her application and also in the Council’s 2-stage complaints procedure. The review concluded that even without documentation requirement she did not meet the discretionary exemption criteria for an application because she does not meet the criteria for exemptions in the policy. Her current supported housing placement was not arranged by the Council which is a qualifying requirement for the banding priority.
10. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
11. We may not find fault with a council’s assessment of a housing application or 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. In this case the Council reviewed the application and it was subject to a complaints review. There is no evidence that the Council failed to properly consider Miss X’s circumstances.

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Final decision

12. 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. We will not exercise discretion to investigate a complaint about the suitability of temporary accommodation in 2023. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman