Summary: Miss X complained the Council has not rehoused her family after they spent six years on its housing register, and it has now decided she is not eligible for social housing. We should not investigate this complaint, as it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s involvement with her homelessness since 2013. The property she currently shares with her three children and other family members is overcrowded. Miss X cannot afford to rent privately and wants security, but she has not been rehoused yet. The Council told her in 2019 she was not eligible for social housing.
2. Miss X also complained the Council refused, when dealing with her complaint, to consider her circumstances over 22 years and instead would only look at her housing case over the 12 months before she complained.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the information Miss X provided when she complained.
7. I considered information the Council provided, which included complaints correspondence between it and Miss X.
8. I considered Miss X’s comments on a draft version of my decision.

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What I found

9. Miss X and her children became homeless after several landlords evicted them. Miss X moved into a house shared with her mother and other family members. She joined the Council’s housing register in 2013. She complained to the Council when she had still not been rehoused in 2017.
10. In 2019, the Council shortlisted Miss X for a property. It then asked her for documents to confirm the details she had given on her housing register application. The documents showed Miss X jointly owned the property she lived in with her family members. The Council therefore told Miss X she was not eligible for social housing.
11. Miss X complained to the Council. She said the funds to purchase the property had all been her mother’s, and her mother had asked that she and her siblings never sold the property. However, the Council explained as the property was in Miss X’s name, her finances were over the threshold to be able to get social housing. It advised her to seek legal advice and told her she had the right to stay in that property. Miss X was not satisfied, as the household is overcrowded, with eight people staying in three bedrooms. She complained to the Ombudsman.
12. In her complaint, Miss X asked that we considered events as far back as 2013. We, like the Council, cannot consider complaints brought to us later than 12 months after events, unless there are good reasons. Miss X had the opportunity to complain in 2013 if she was dissatisfied with the Council’s actions. There is not a good reason she did not complain to us sooner about events of 2013, and it is unlikely we would be able to carry out a fair investigation as the information we need would not be available.
13. More recent events are in time. I have considered whether we should investigate Miss X’s complaint that she had still not been rehoused despite having been on the housing register for six years, and the Council’s subsequent decision she is not eligible due to her jointly owning a property. I have considered Miss X’s description of the significant negative impact the overcrowded housing has had on her family’s mental wellbeing.
14. However, it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s actions. The Council must work in line with its allocations scheme, which says the Council will not allow applicants to bid for properties where they have sufficient financial resources to enable them to secure their own accommodation. This includes where they have a financial interest in a property. The Council considered whether there were exceptional circumstances, but it decided there was not a reason to disregard the property in Miss X’s case. It was entitled to come to that decision and there is no information that leads me to believe it made that decision with fault. We should not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

15. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because we are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman