Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s provision of alternative temporary accommodation. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council failing to advise her where she would be rehoused following her landlord’s application to court to repossess her temporary accommodation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X says she was informed by her landlord that he was taking court action to repossess her accommodation provided as temporary accommodation by the Council in June. She says the landlord had given notice to the Council earlier without any contact with her from the Council.
6. Ms X says she received copies of a possession order and a warrant and had to contact the Council because she was unsure of where she would be able to live when this was executed. She complained to us in October 2024 when the eviction was due.
7. Since that time the Council offered her alternative temporary accommodation which she eventually accepted. In January 2025 the Council made her a formal offer of an introductory council tenancy. If Miss X accepts this it will end its homelessness duty to her. If she refuses she will be entitled to a statutory review of the offer and any decision by the Council to discharge its homelessness duty. There is a further right of appeal to the County Court.
8. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s provision of alternative temporary accommodation. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman