Summary: Mr X complains the Council has unreasonably refused to accept a housing duty towards him despite his homelessness plus poor health. We will not investigate this matter because Mr X has statutory appeal rights, he can use to challenge the Council’s decision.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall call Mr X, says the Council unreasonably ignored his homelessness and medical vulnerabilities by deciding it has no housing duty towards him.

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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. The law says we normally cannot 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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Mr X provided with his complaint.

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My assessment

5. The Housing Act 1996 (“the Act”) says that where someone is homeless and eligible for assistance, councils have a legal duty to try and relieve their homelessness.

6. The Act also gives homeless applicants a right of review about councils’ main decisions on their homelessness application to the Council under s202 of the Act. This includes decisions about the suitability of accommodation and about ending the housing duty in their case. If an applicant wants to dispute a negative review decision, they can ultimately appeal to the county court on a point of law.
7. Mr X says the Council has provided him with temporary accommodation for the time being. But it turned down his request to accept a full housing duty towards him. He says he has asked the Council to review its decision, but it has not responded to him.
8. We will not investigate. This is because Mr X can now appeal to the county court. Unlike the courts we have no powers to overturn council homelessness decisions or make rulings on points of law, so it is reasonable to expect him to do this.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to accept any housing duty. This is because Mr X has statutory appeal rights ultimately to the county court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman