London Borough of Lambeth (25 022 031)
Category : Housing > Homelessness
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 20 May 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council has handled his homelessness case. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to appeal the Council’s decision to the County Court.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council did not handle his homelessness application correctly. He states the Council has not accepted a homeless duty towards him when they should have done. As a result of this Mr X says he has had to sleep in his car and has suffered significant distress.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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 Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X made a homelessness application to the Council after his landlord served a possession notice.
- The Council assessed Mr X’s application and decided that it did not owe the homelessness duty to him as it considered that he was not in priority need. Mr X has asked for a review of this decision.
- Once Mr X has received the outcome of his review, if it is rejected, he would be able to appeal the decision to the County Court on a point of law.
- The law expressly provides this route for challenging such decisions, so we normally expect people to use it. Whether or not the Council has considered Mr X’s medical needs would be a point of law. So it is reasonable to expect him to appeal to the County Court. The Court can make a decision on the point of law and overturn the Council's decision if it sees fit.
- So, we will not investigate this complaint because Mr X has a statutory right to appeal the Council’s decision to the Court, and it is reasonable for him to use that right.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council has handled his homelessness case. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to appeal the Council’s decision to the county court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman