Summary: We shall not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Ms X’s homelessness and housing matters. This is mainly because the complaint is out of time and because of Ms X’s right to go to court.

The complaint

1. Ms Y complained on behalf of Ms X about how the Council handled matters related to Ms X’s homelessness and housing situation. She reports Ms X consequently has inadequate living conditions, financial problems and has suffered distress.

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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 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. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
5. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
6. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
7. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered the information Ms Y provided and discussed some of the complaint with her. I considered copy correspondence the Council supplied. I gave Ms Y the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

9. Previously, the Council accepted a homelessness duty to Ms X and provided homelessness temporary accommodation. Ms X lived there for some years pending an offer of longer-term accommodation to end the Council’s homelessness duty. In 2018, the Council offered Ms X longer-term accommodation. That offer resulted in events leading to the present complaint.

Points of complaint about Council ending its homelessness duty

10. Some of Ms X’s complaint concerns the circumstances in which the Council ended its homelessness duty to her. Ms X complains the Council: offered a medically unsuitable property; wrongly said she refused that offer; and acted wrongly in evicting Ms X from her former home.
11. Those events all happened between August and November 2018. Ms X first complained to us in April 2020. So the restriction described in paragraph 3 applies.
12. Ms Y told me Ms X did not complain sooner because she was going through the Council’s procedures. I note Ms Y did not make a formal complaint until April 2019, between five and eight months after knowing of the events. The Council replied a month later, advising Ms X how to take her complaint to the next stage of the Council’s complaints procedure. Ms X did not do so for another five months. The Council’s final reply on 3 December 2019 told Ms X she could complain to the Ombudsman but that did not happen for another four months. So I am not persuaded that complaining to the Council necessarily delayed Ms X contacting us within 12 months.
13. I also appreciate Ms X has some health problems, had to move home and was bringing a legal challenge to some of the Council’s decisions. I appreciate those points might all have affected how quickly Ms X could complain to us. However, overall, I am not persuaded there are strong enough grounds to investigate the complaint that came to us so long after 12 months.
14. Even if there were stronger reasons, there are other legal restrictions on the Ombudsman’s power that mean I shall not investigate this complaint, as I shall set out below.

The Council’s offer of a property to end its homelessness duty

15. Ms X used her right to challenge the suitability of the offer by appealing to the county court on a point of law. So the restriction described in paragraph 5 above means we cannot consider this part of the complaint. I understand that, after starting court action, Ms X withdrew the court action. That makes no difference to our legal power, since the restriction in paragraph 5 prevents us considering a matter as soon as court action starts, irrespective of whether the action is later withdrawn before a court makes a final decision.
16. Ms Y says Ms X’s solicitors only advised Ms X to withdraw the court appeal based on information Ms X now considers inaccurate. That does not enable us to consider the matter, partly because of the reasons given in the previous paragraph and partly because this point relates to the conduct of court proceedings, which paragraph 6 above explains we cannot consider.

The Council saying Ms X refused the offer

17. The Council says Ms X refused the offer so the Council ended its homelessness duty. Ms X denies refusing the property. When the Council ended its duty, it told Ms X of her right to ask the Council to review its decision. Ms X evidently sought a review. The Council’s review decision, which upheld its earlier decision, told Ms X of her right to appeal to the county court on a point of law.
18. It is not clear if Ms X’s court appeal only covered the suitability of the offered property or also included her argument that she had not refused the property so the Council should not have ended its duty. If the court appeal covered whether she had refused the property, I cannot consider this part of the complaint, for the reasons given in paragraphs 15 and 16 above.
19. If the court appeal did not include this point, the restriction in paragraph 4 above applies. The law specifically provides this route for challenging such decisions. The court can overturn the Council’s decision if it sees fit. Ms X was told about her court appeal right and was evidently able to seek legal advice and go to court. So, if Ms X did not go to court on this point, I consider it would have been reasonable to expect her to do so.
20. So, whether or not Ms X appealed to the court on this point, I shall not investigate this part of the complaint.

Ms X’s eviction from her former home

21. After ending its homelessness duty, the Council required Ms X to leave the accommodation it had provided. The eviction was inextricably linked to the Council’s decision to end its homelessness duty. So the reasoning in paragraphs 17 to 20 above also means I shall not pursue this part of the complaint.

Ms X’s current home

22. Ms X also complains about the Council’s actions regarding her current home, which she says is unsafe and medically unsuitable. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the Council 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 Council of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))
23. The complaint Ms X made through the Council’s complaints procedure did not include this point. So the restriction in the paragraph above applies. I consider it would be reasonable for the Council to have an opportunity to investigate and reply to this complaint. If Ms X wants to pursue this point, it would seem most appropriate for her to take a complaint about it through the Council’s formal complaints procedure. If she remains dissatisfied after that, she can bring this point back to the Ombudsman.
24. If Ms X were to resubmit this complaint to us, we might consider whether any of the events were more than 12 months before April 2020, in which case the restriction in paragraph 3 would apply. However, I cannot anticipate what decision we might reach on that or any other point concerning a possible future complaint.

The Council’s complaint-handling

25. Ms Y is also dissatisfied that the Council’s complaint correspondence did not answer all the points she raised. As I am not investigating the substantive complaint, I shall not investigate the Council’s complaint-handling, for the reasons given in paragraph 7.

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Final decision

26. The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman