Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Miss X’s housing. Some parts of the complaint are late. On other parts, Miss X had, or will have, rights to challenge the Council’s position, including by going to court, and it is reasonable to expect her to do so. There was no fault in the Council deciding to move Miss X from her current accommodation. There is no evidence of fault on Miss X’s priority banding. Other points have not completed the Council’s complaint procedure.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the Council moving her and her children between different temporary accommodation properties and about the handling of her housing register application for long-term social housing. She says these points have caused her and her family inconvenience and 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. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating or it would be reasonable for the person to ask for an organisation review or appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

Moving Miss X between different temporary accommodation

8. Miss X and her family have been in homelessness temporary accommodation for five years. They have moved between five properties in that time and are awaiting a sixth move to further temporary accommodation.
9. The restriction in paragraph 3 applies to any moves before October 2021 (12 months before Miss X’s complaint to us). I do not see good reason to investigate complaints about those moves now.
10. Also, even if the points in paragraphs 3 and 9 did not apply, the Council states the previous moves were because Miss X had asked it to review the suitability of previous temporary accommodation. That procedure exists for where an applicant thinks their temporary accommodation is unsuitable. If the Council agrees it is not suitable, it will move the applicant. That is how the suitability review process is intended to work. It is not appropriate for the Ombudsman to investigate matters relating to suitability when the relevant process has been used.
11. For any moves since October 2021, paragraphs 3 and 9 above do not apply but paragraph 10 applies.

Intent to move Miss X from her current temporary accommodation

12. The Council has no duty to provide long-term certainty in temporary accommodation. So there is not necessarily any fault in the Council deciding to move someone. The Council provided Miss X’s current accommodation through an agreeement between the Council and the property’s landlord. The landlord is now taking the property back. So there is no fault in the Council saying it will need to move Miss X again, though I appreciate that is difficult for Miss X.

Miss X’s wish to have accommodation in a specific area

13. Miss X wishes to have accommodation in a specific area, near family support. This point is about the suitability of any temporary or long-term accommodation, in terms of its location.
14. If Miss X considered any accommodation unsuitable because of its location, she could reasonably have used her review and court appeal rights, so we shall not investigate those offers.
15. If the Council were to offer further accommodation Miss X considered was in an unsuitable location, Miss X would have the right to ask the Council to review the offer’s suitability. If the Council still said the offer was suitable, Miss X could appeal to the county court on a point of law. (Housing Act 1996, sections 202 and 204) Miss X’s fear of getting somewhere not near family support is currently hypothetical and, if it arises, she could reasonably challenge the Council, including in court. Therefore the restriction in paragraph 4 would apply. It is not appropriate for us to become invovled in this point currently.

Miss X’s priority on the housing register

16. Miss X wants higher priority on the Council’s housing register. She is unhappy she has been waiting five years. This does not seem to have been in Miss X’s complaint to the Council. Miss X should take this point through the Council’s formal complaint procedure if she wants to pursue it.
17. Also, the fact Miss X has been waiting for five years does not in itself suggest any fault in the priority the Council has given Miss X. The Council says people in homelessness temporary accommodation can often wait longer than that. So there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council on this point.

Types of property when Miss X can bid for on housing register

18. Miss X’s complaint to the Ombudsman expressed dissatisfaction the Council has now said she can only bid for properties above the first floor if the properties have a lift. This reduces the number of properties she can bid for. This appears to be a recent development and a complaint about it has not completed the Council’s complaint procedure. Therefore I shall not pursue this point at the moment.

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Final decision

19. I do appreciate Miss X’s situation is very difficult. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because: some parts are late; the previous changes of temporary accommodation were due to the suitability review procedure working as intended; there is no fault in the Council deciding to move Miss X from her current accommodation; Miss X could challenge the suitability of any offers; there is no evidence of fault on Miss X’s priority banding; and other points have not completed the Council’s complaint procedure.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman