The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Miss x complained about the Council’s assessment of her housing application. She says she has been sharing with her family in her parents’ home since she applied for housing in March 2022 and has not been made any offers of housing.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I have also considered the Council’s housing allocations policy.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Miss X says she has not received any offers or had any successful bids since she applied to the housing register as a single person in 2022.
The Council says she is on the register but there is a high demand for accommodation and it cannot say when she is likely to be offered housing. The Council also says she needs to re-apply for the register because she has complained from a different address to that which her housing application is based on.
It is a requirement of the allocations policy that any change of circumstances or address is notified to the Council. Without this any offer of accommodation may be terminated if the applicant’s circumstances do not match the application details.
The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
The Ombudsman may not find fault with a council’s assessment of a housing application/ a housing applicant’s priority if it has carried this out in line with its published allocations scheme. We recognise that the demand for social housing far outstrips the supply of properties in many areas.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman