St Albans City Council (26 012 059)
Category : Housing > Homelessness
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 27 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with a homelessness application. This is because the Council is considering a review from X and if dissatisfied with the review it is reasonable for X to use their right of appeal to the County Court.
The complaint
- X complains about how the Council dealt with their homelessness application. X says she is without suitable accommodation and that the Council has discriminated against them and failed to consider reasonable adjustments.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- X made a homelessness application to the Council. The Council assessed X’s application and decided that it did not owe the homelessness duty to them. X has asked for a review of this decision.
- Once X has received the outcome of their review, if it is rejected, X 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 X’s needs would be a point of law. So it is reasonable to expect X 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 X has a statutory right to appeal the Council’s decision to the Court, and it is reasonable for them to use that right.
Final decision
- We will not investigate X’s complaint because the Council is considering a review from X and if dissatisfied with the review it is reasonable for X to use their right of appeal to the County Court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman