Summary: The law prevents us investigating this complaint about Mrs X’s homelessness and housing applications. This is because Mrs X took court action on the key points. Even if the court action did not include one point - the Council’s review of its homelessness decision - Mrs X could reasonably have used her court appeal right on that.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council’s actions regarding her housing difficulties.

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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 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)
4. The courts have said that where someone has sought a remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, we cannot investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and copy documents from the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Council closed Mrs X’s housing register application, saying Mrs X did not meet its criteria for social housing, a decision it confirmed when Mrs X asked for a review. The Council also decided Mrs X was not homeless. Mrs X disagreed with both decisions, due to the condition of the property her family lives in. She asked the Council to review the decisions. The Council reviewed and confirmed the housing register decision. The Council’s review of the homelessness decision was still underway when Mrs X contacted us and took court action.
8. Mrs X’s complaint to us stated she was ‘…suing the Borough Council in Hounslow…’ Mrs X started judicial review proceedings in the High Court against the Council. Her court claim said this judicial review covered the Council’s review of its decision that she did not qualify for the housing register and the Council’s letter saying it was minded to confirm she was not homeless. Mrs X’s court claim said the Council had not properly helped Mrs X with her housing problems.
9. As Mrs X started court action, the restriction in paragraph 4 above prevents us considering the complaint about these points. This applies even if the judicial review did not succeed, and even if it could not have provided a complete remedy for the matters.
10. Mrs X started the court action during the Council’s homelessness review. After she started the court action, but before the court considered the case, the Council issued a homelessness review decision confirming it did not believe Mrs X was homeless or threatened with homelessness. It is not clear to me whether the judicial review action included the homelessness review decision.
1. If the judicial review did include this decision, the restriction in paragraph 4 also prevents us considering the complaint about that decision.
2. If the court action did not include the homelessness review decision, it is relevant that the Council’s review decision letter told Mrs X about her right to appeal to the county court on a point of law. (Housing Act 1996, section 204) In that case, the restriction in paragraph 3 would apply here. Mrs X disagrees with the Council about whether her circumstances meet the legal definition of homelessness. That is a point of law. The law expressly provides this appeal route for challenging such decisions, so we normally expect people to use it. The court can make a binding decision and overturn the Council’s decision if it sees fit, unlike the Ombudsman. There might be a potential cost to court action, but that is not in itself automatically a reason to consider court action unreasonable, and applicants can get help with court costs if they are eligible. Mrs X knew about the court appeal right and is evidently capable of pursuing matters. So, even if the judicial review action did not include this point, it is nevertheless reasonable to expect Mrs X to have used her court appeal right when she had it.
11. Therefore, whether or not the judicial review included the homelessness review decision, we will not investigate the homelessness point.

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Final decision

12. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because Mrs X has taken court action on the key points. Even if the court action did not include the Council’s review of its homelessness decision, Mrs X could reasonably have used her right to appeal to the county court on that point. No points of the complaint to us are reasonably separable from the points that court action covered or could have covered.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman