Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application in 2023 and its subsequent offers of unsuitable accommodation under its homelessness duty. We will not investigate the housing application consideration because it concerns matters which the complainant was aware of more than 12 months before complaining to us. We will not investigate the complaints about the suitability of offers because it was reasonable for Miss X to challenge them using the review/appeals procedure available under the homelessness legislation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained that the Council mishandled her housing application in 2023 and subsequently made her offers of unsuitable accommdoation under its homelessness duty. She says she has been offered a further property which she says she has not been able to view and which she believes has safeguarding risks due to its location in an area she is escaping violence from.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
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).

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Miss X says the Council mishandled the assessment her housing application in 2023 and delayed allocating priority to her case. We will not investigate this part of the complaint because they concern matters which she was aware of more than 12 months before she complained to us in November 2025.
8. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wished to complain about, not when they complained to the Council or it issued its final response. We would expect someone to complain to us within a year, even if they were dissatisfied with the time the complaints procedure was taking. I have seen no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.
9. Miss X was accepted under the Council’s homelessness Main housing duty in May 2024 and she was made offers of accommodation after this date. Miss X says the four previous offers were unsuitable on the basis of location or risk and she rejected them. The Council agreed to withdraw each offer and she remained eligible for offers. Miss X could have asked for a suitability review of any of these previous offers but did not do so because they were withdrawn by the Council.
10. In November the Council made Miss X a final offer of accommodation. It advised her that if she rejected the offer it would consider ending the homelessness duty and close her case. Miss X says this was unreasonable and she has submitted a s.202 review of the decision under the Housing Act 1996 part 7. These reviews carry further rights of appeal to the County Court of they are unsuccessful. We will not investigate this compalint because the review/appeal procedure has been started and it is reasonable for Miss X to proceed with this.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint against the Council about the mishandling of her housing application and offers under its homelessness duty. We will not exeriise discretion to cosndier events more than 12 months before she compalined and it was reasonable for her to use the review/appeal procedure to challenge the offers of accommdoation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman