Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council has dealt with Mr X’s housing application. This is because some issues are late and there is no good reason to look at them now, and the issue that is in time has already been upheld and proportionately remedied by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council wrongly cancelled his housing application in 2022 and delayed in reinstating it.
2. He also complains the Council made an offer of permanent accommodation in August 2025, and later said this was not an offer.
3. Mr X is seeking reassessment of his priority, a substantive remedy and suitable permanent accommodation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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)
5. 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. Mr X is on the Council’s housing register awaiting an offer for permanent accommodation.
9. He says in August 2025 the Council contacted him and offered him permanent housing, and that it followed this call with an email saying this was being processed.
10. The Council later called and said the property was not available.
11. Mr X complained about this and that the Council had cancelled his housing application in 2022 when it had updated its systems.
12. The Council explained it had contacted Mr X in August 2025 as it was considering him for a housing association property which later became unavailable to the Council.
13. The Council said it had been able to consider Mr X for the housing association property because there was a set of criteria which had to be met for applicants to be eligible. This meant Mr X was considered for that property outside the usual order on the register.
14. Although the Council confirmed there was no concrete offer of a property made to Mr X, it accepted its communication may have been unclear and caused Mr X disappointment and upset.
15. The Council apologised for this and offered a financial remedy as a gesture of goodwill in recognition of the impact the lack of clarity had caused.
16. We will not investigate the 2022 issue as the complaint was brought to us late and there are no good reasons to look at it now.

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Final decision

17. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council has upheld the complaint and has apologised and offered a financial payment as a token of goodwill. Further investigation by us would not therefore be proportionate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman