The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council has dealt with Mr X’s housing application. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council for us to investigate.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has failed to rehouse him. Mr X says he is a victim of domestic abuse and has health issues. Mr X says the situation has left him feeling distressed.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X has been in temporary accommodation provided by the Council since 2020. The Council has a duty to provide housing to him. It can end this duty by offering Mr X permanent housing.
We can only consider what has happened since May 2021. This is 12 months before Mr X complained to us. If Mr X was unhappy with the Council’s actions, he could have complained to us sooner.
The Council has awarded Mr X the highest priority for medical rehousing. Mr X says the Council has not considered that he is fleeing domestic abuse. However under the Council’s housing policy Mr X cannot get a higher priority than he has now based on his circumstances. Therefore there is not enough evidence of fault for us to investigate.
People who want to be rehoused by the Council need to “bid” on properties advertised by the Council. Mr X has not placed many bids and the Council says this means it will take longer for him to be rehoused. It is up to Mr X to bid on properties advertised by the Council so he can be rehoused. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council for us to investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council dealt with his housing application.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman