Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council because Miss X could have used her right to appeal in court.

The complaint

1. We have called the complainant Miss X.
2. Miss X told us the Council did not offer her housing after it said she had turned down a suitable offer.
3. She told the Council she could not live in the home they found her because her abusive ex-partner knows the area.
4. She is worried about being homeless.

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What the Ombudsman can and cannot do

5. We look at complaints about the services of councils and their organisations.
6. We look at how this has affected the person complaining.
7. Our service is free but paid for by taxpayers so we need to use our money carefully.
8. The law tells us we can decide not to look at a complaint when the problem could be looked at by a court.

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How we thought about this complaint

9. We looked at the complaint.
10. We looked at information from the Council.
11. We checked our rules called the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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What we found out

12. When a council does not offer housing to a homeless person the law says the person has 21 days to appeal to the County Court.
13. Miss X got help from a Law Centre.
14. The Council wrote to the Law Centre saying that it made Miss X a suitable offer and that she had a right to appeal to the County Court.
15. Miss X told us the Law Centre closed her case and didn’t explain about appealing to the court in a way she understood.
16. Miss X told us she didn’t want to go to court.
17. The court can overturn the Council’s decision and we told Miss X about her right to go to court when there was still 5 days left to appeal

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Final decision

We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because we think it was reasonable for her to go to court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman