Summary: Mrs X complains the Council refuses to provide her housing association with information it needs to decide whether to allow her to carry out a mutual exchange. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint as we are unlikely to find fault in the Councils actions.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council will not give her landlord the information it needs so it can decide whether to allow her to proceed with a mutual exchange (home swap).

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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 must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information provided by Mrs X and discussed her complaint with her. I also considered the information provided by the Council.

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What I found

4. Mrs X is housing association tenant. The tenancy on her home is subject to a section 106 agreement with the Council. This restricts the housing association to only letting the property to people who have a local connection to the area.
5. The housing association (her landlord) confirmed she can arrange a mutual exchange. A mutual exchange is way for social housing residents to find a move by swapping homes with another social housing resident.
6. Mrs X and her family need to move away from the area. Her doctor has advised her to move closer to family and friends for support. She has found a tenant living in the area she wants to move to. However, this tenant has no local connection to the area where Mrs X lives.
7. The landlord says before it will agree to the mutual exchange, it wants the permission from the Council to waive the local connection condition.
8. Mrs X complains the Council has said that having considered the circumstances of an incoming tenant, it sometimes waives the requirement. But it has not confirmed whether it will waive the requirement in her case.
9. In response to my enquiries, the Council confirms the landlord approached it in 2019 for advice. However, there was not enough information given to enable it to provide specific advice, so it provided the landlord with general information.
10. The Council says it will investigate and offer specific advice based on its policies, if the landlord provides detailed information about Mrs X’s proposed mutual exchange.

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Final decision

11. I will not investigate this complaint. The Council has confirmed it has not received the specific information it needs to make a decision. If it receives all necessary information, it will advise the housing association whether it would be likely to take legal action should the property be let to a tenant with no local connection.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman