Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council handled her request to continue living in a property her friend was leaving. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. Mrs X says the Council should have allowed her family to stay in her friends’ house after it transferred her friend to another property. Mrs X says that the Council should offer her family a higher banding, a house or bungalow rather than a flat and a discount on their council tax.

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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
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement

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

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/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended).

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Mrs X says her family became homeless ten years ago. She says that her family was advised by the Council to leave their home due to racist abuse. I cannot investigate the actions the Council took ten years ago. Mrs X could have come to us to complain about these matters sooner.
7. In March 2024 Mrs X and her family were placed in temporary accommodation by the Council. Mrs X’s family left the same day and went to stay with her friend. In July Mrs X wrote to the Council to confirm she wanted to close her homelessness application.
8. In October Mrs X’s friend applied for a tenant transfer and the Council agreed to transfer her. In December Mrs X complained to the Council that her family should be allowed to stay in her friends flat after her friend moved. The Council explained Mrs X could not request a specific property as there were other people on the housing list with a higher banding and people who had been waiting longer. The Council said it reviewed Mrs X’s application, but her family did not meet the criteria for a Discretionary Let.
9. In February 2025 the Council assessed Mrs X’s change of circumstances and confirmed her current banding. Mrs X was informed that she could request a banding review.
10. If the Council had allowed Mrs X to stay in the property after her friend left, this would be likely to cause injustice to other applicants. The Council was acting according to its published allocations policy. There is therefore no evidence of fault by the Council and I will therefore not investigate this element of Mrs X’s complaint.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman