Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her housing situation because we cannot achieve a worthwhile outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council refused a management transfer to a three-bedroom property, despite having assessed the family needed three bedrooms in relation to its housing register. She said that, due to Council failings she had been placed in bed and breakfast accommodation for almost six weeks. Ms X wants the Council to immediately allocate her a three-bedroom property.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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)
4. 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 cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

What happened

8. Ms X, a Council tenant, applied for a management transfer. The Council explained that a management transfer would be on a “like-for-like” basis. This means that, as Ms X currently lives in a two-bedroom property, it would only offer a two-bedroom alternative. Ms X was unhappy with the Council’s decision because it had assessed her as needing a three-bedroom property in relation to her housing register application.
9. In March 2026, an incident occurred, in which the police were involved. Council B offered to arrange temporary accommodation for Ms X in another town, funded by children’s social care, but Ms X refused this because she said it was too small and too far away.
10. This Council offered to arrange bed and breakfast accommodation (B&B) in the same town, which Ms X initially refused. Ms X says she has now been in B&B accommodation. It is unclear, from the information seen, whether this was arranged by this Council or Council B.
11. In its complaint response, the Council said Ms X was properly advised about the management transfer process, the medical assessment process and given a point of contact if the situation escalated. It was satisfied that, prior to the incident in March, all offers were made correctly and in line with its policies.
12. Following the incident, the Council and police had assessed its area as being unsafe for her family. It had fully considered whether it could rehouse her. However, given the limited availability of housing stock and its small geographical size, it decided it could not offer safe accommodation in its area.
13. In a further response, in early June, the Council said:
• Ms X was registered on its housing register for a three-bedroom property but the expected waiting time was several years;
• it was willing to offer a management transfer, but this would be a two-bedroom property on a like-for-like basis;
• its homelessness team was considering her circumstances on the basis she was fleeing from violence and may offer temporary accommodation whilst longer term housing options were explored;
• Ms X could remain in her current property against the advice of the Council and the police, who had said she was not safe in any part of its area.

My assessment

14. We are not an appeal body. We can consider the Council’s decision-making but, unless there was fault in that process, we cannot comment on the decisions reached. The law says all councils must allocate social housing in line with their published allocations scheme.
15. The Council’s allocations scheme says, if a management transfer is agreed, it will be on a like-for-like basis in terms of the number of bedrooms, unless this would mean the applicants are under-occupying the property. It says a move to a larger property will only be facilitated through a standard transfer application.
16. When making a management transfer, the Council is usually regarded as acting in its capacity as social landlord. We cannot investigate complaints about social landlords.
17. Even if we decided the Council was not acting as a social landlord because Ms X was in one of the “reasonable preference” categories for allocating social housing, there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify investigating because the Council’s decision that it could only offer a two-bedroom property is in line with its published allocations scheme. Ms X was assessed as needing a three-bedroom property, so she could continue to bid for them through the housing register, but that would not resolve her housing situation quickly.
18. It was open to the Council to reassess her priority, based on the change of circumstances in Match 2026, and it may have done so. This may reduce the waiting time. However, it says it cannot safely allocate housing in its area, so even if there was a failure to consider this, further investigation by us would not achieve the outcome Ms X wants, which is immediate rehousing.
19. It is unclear whether this Council has arranged the B&B accommodation. The law says B&B accommodation can only be offered to families as a last resort and for a maximum of six weeks. At this point the six-week limit has not been reached. In any case, there is no indication Ms X has made a formal complaint about the Council’s handling of her homelessness assessment. The law says we cannot consider investigating until the Council has had the chance to respond through its complaints process, so it is too early for us to consider investigating this part of the complaint.
20. For all the above reasons, we will not consider this complaint further.

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Final decision

21. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we cannot achieve a worthwhile outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman