Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to pay her deposit and rent in advance when she moved in 2021. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons to investigate now.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council promised her it would pay her deposit and rent in advance when she moved to private rented accommodation in 2021, but then failed to do so. As a result, she had to borrow the money at a high rate of interest, which has caused her financial hardship and the stress has affected her mental health.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

7. Ms X said the Council agreed to pay the deposit and rent in advance when she moved to private rented accommodation in 2021. The Council’s complaint response said:
• its housing team asked for information about the private rented accommodation and decided it was not affordable for Ms X. Therefore, it did not assist her to secure it and her request for assistance did not proceed;
• its benefits team will have given general advice without knowing all the details of her situation. If the accommodation had been in its area, she could have made a request to change the address and housing benefit would still have been paid. However, the accommodation was outside its area, which meant Ms X had to transition to Universal Credit;
• Ms X’s application for a discretionary housing payment (DHP) was refused because she did not have a housing benefit claim that continued without a break and a DHP cannot be agreed where the applicant has made the payment already. It wrote to her with its decision in 2022.
8. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events they are complaining about. Ms X complained to us in July 2024 about events in 2021 and 2022. Although Ms X said she had experienced significant mental health challenges in the interim, I am satisfied she could have complained sooner.
9. In any case, there is a conflict of evidence. Ms X says the Council told her it had agreed the payment and would pay it directly to the estate agent. The Council says it told her the accommodation was not affordable so it would not assist her to secure it. It is unlikely we could resolve this conflict, given the lapse of time, and therefore it is unlikely we could achieve a worthwhile outcome.
10. Further, the Council’s actions, in checking whether the accommodation was affordable and advising Ms X about this, were appropriate and there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
11. For these reasons, we will not consider the complaint further.

Back to top

Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is late and because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman