London Borough of Camden (22 016 137)
Category : Housing > Homelessness
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 27 Mar 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a request to turn temporary accommodation into a social housing tenancy. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation. We will not investigate a complaint about the Council’s rejection of a claim for personal injury due to negligence. Only the courts can determine liability for claims if they have been rejected by insurers.
The complaint
- Ms X complained about the Council’s refusal to turn her existing temporary accommodation into a secure tenancy. She says she does not wish to be moved again as she has become settled in the past two years and does not want further upheaval. She also complained about not receiving the outcome of her claim for personal injury which she submitted in 2022 after falling on stairs at her current home.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Ms X says she moved to her current temporary accommodation after the Council accepted a homeless duty to her two years ago. Her child is settled in a local school and she does not want to be moved in future to alterative accommodation. She asked the Council to turn her current licence into a secure tenancy by making the building into social housing. The Council told her it could not do this and that her current accommodation was provided under homeless legislation and was only for temporary use. Any creation of new social housing tenancies would require them to be offered to applicants who have the highest priority on the housing register and this may not include the current residents of her temporary rented property.
- We asked the Council about the claim which Ms X submitted in 2022. It informed us that the claim was rejected by its insurers in January 2023 and a copy of the rejection was sent to Ms X. We cannot determine claims about personal injury or damage to property. Negligence claims and interpreting the law around legal torts are generally best decided by the courts where the council involved has denied any liability.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint about a request to turn temporary accommodation into a social housing tenancy. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation. We will not investigate a complaint about the Council’s rejection of a claim for personal injury due to negligence. Only the courts can determine liability for claims if they have been rejected by insurers.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman