Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint that the Council withdrew an offer of housing because the complainant had council tax arrears. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains the Council withdrew a housing offer. He says the Council did not tell him it would remove him from the housing register if he had a housing related debt. He says the Council misled him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start 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

3. I read the complaint and the Council’s responses. I considered the housing allocations policy. I invited Mr X to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Housing allocations policy

4. The policy lists people who are excluded from the housing register. This includes people who have council tax arrears of at least £100. The policy, and a summary of the key points, is available on the Council’s website.

What happened

5. Mr X became liable for council tax in September 2018. He applied to join the housing register in November 2018. He did not have council tax arrears when he applied.
6. In early 2020 the Council obtained a court order because Mr X had council tax arrears of £1295.
7. In July the Council’s housing team invited Mr X to view a property. While it was doing verification checks it found out, on 13 July, about the council tax arrears. It told Mr X it could not continue with the offer unless he paid the arrears. By 22 July Mr X had paid £600. Mr X still owed more than £100 so the Council withdrew the offer. He paid another £300 on 24 July but the Council closed his application on 24 July. Mr X reduced the arrears to £95 in late August.
8. In response to his complaint the Council said its decision to withdraw the offer, and end the application, was correct because he had arrears of more than £100. It said there was no reason to have mentioned this part of the policy when he joined the register because he did not have arrears. It said it could have withdrawn the offer on 13 July but it gave him time to try to reduce the arrears to below £100. It invited him to re-apply to the register once the arrears were less than £100. It also invited to seek housing advice and said it might be able to help him find accommodation in the private sector.
9. Mr X says he was unaware of the arrears and the policy. He also says he tried hard to clear the arrears.

Assessment

10. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The policy says that people who have council tax arrears of more than £100 are excluded from the housing register. The Council found out Mr X had arrears of £1295 so it withdrew the housing offer and closed the application. But, before then, it gave him a chance to reduce the arrears to below the threshold. The Council’s decision reflects the policy so there is no reason to start an investigation. In addition, when someone joins the housing register it would not be possible for the Council to highlight everything that might happen that could affect an application. But, the policy can be read on the website.
11. Mr X can apply to re-join the housing register if he has not already done so.

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Final decision

12. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman