Summary: Miss X complained about her housing applications and a lack of communication from the Council. We found there was delay in dealing with her housing applications and multiple instances of poor communication by the Council which was frustrating and exacerbated her anxiety. We recommended a payment to recognise the impact of these failings. We did not find fault with the Council’s decision on the housing application itself.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council failed to properly consider her housing application and it ignored her when she made contact to chase progress and request information about the decisions it had made.
2. As a council tenant, Miss X also complained about repairs issues and a lack of information about a refurbishment programme.
3. Miss X complained the failings by the Council had an impact on her health. She has anxiety and the lack of communication and support made things harder for her and her family.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
5. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)
6. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

7. The full complaint Miss X made to the Council included issues being dealt with by the Council as her landlord; repairs issues and information about a refurbishment scheme. We do not have any jurisdiction to consider this aspect of her complaint. I understand she has referred these issues to the Housing Ombudsman for them to consider.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I spoke with Miss X and considered the complaint she made. We obtained information from the Council and considered its response to the complaint.
9. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Statutory Overcrowding

10. Sections 324 to 326 of the Housing Act 1985 define when someone is living in overcrowded housing (Statutory Overcrowding).

Section 325 of the Housing Act (The room standard) states:

11. (1) The room standard is contravened when the number of persons sleeping in a dwelling and the number of rooms available as sleeping accommodation is such that two persons of opposite sexes who are not living together as [a married couple or civil partners] must sleep in the same room.
12. (2) For this purpose—
13. (a) children under the age of ten shall be left out of account, and
14. (b) a room is available as sleeping accommodation if it is of a type normally used in the locality either as a bedroom or as a living room.

Council Housing Allocation Policy

15. To be eligible to join the Council’s Housing Register, applicants must be able to show they are need of housing. The Council’s Housing Allocations Policy sets out when it considers someone has housing need. The policy states that only households with severe overcrowding will be considered to have housing need. It defines severe overcrowding as households who require two more bedrooms than they currently have. The policy states the Council considers a living room or a dining room could be used as a bedroom, when deciding what additional rooms someone needs.

What Happened

16. Miss X lives in a two-bedroom property with her two children. In March 2023 she complained to the Council about another matter. In her letter she told the Council they suffered from statutory overcrowding because her daughter and son shared a bedroom.
17. The Council’s response to the complaint in May 2023 told her that it was still recovering from a cyber-attack in late 2020, which resulted in a backlog of housing register applications. It stated the Housing Register Team would contact her in due course with a link to apply.
18. In November 2023 Miss X completed an application to join the Housing Register. In it she noted the ages of her children and noted that her son had medical conditions which should be taken into account.
19. Miss X contacted the Council for an update on the progress of the application on 19 December. The Council later acknowledged that it did not pass this request to the relevant team until early February 2024.
20. In early February the Council requested information from Miss X for her housing application. It says it wrote to Miss X seeking more information on 8 and 22 February and again on 7 March 2024. When it did not receive the information it needed, it wrote to Miss X on 14 March 2024 rejecting her application.
21. Miss X says she tried to contact the relevant officer on multiple occasions to discuss the rejection without success. The Council acknowledged that when Miss X emailed to request an appeal of the decision in mid-May 2024, it failed to pass this on until the end of June. When it did pass it on, it sent it to the wrong team, causing further delay until 8 July 2024, and once it got to the correct team it had no record of responding.
22. In July 2024, Miss X asked the Council to escalate her original complaint. She stated she had appealed against the closure of her housing application and this had not been dealt with.
23. In the Council’s response of September 2024 it acknowledged that Miss X’s contacts had not been dealt with properly and its original complaint response had been late. It explained that Miss X’s application had not been decided, rather it was closed because of missing information. As a result, she could not appeal. It acknowledged that no-one had explained this to her.
24. The Council offered Miss X a payment of £100 to recognise the lack of communication about her housing application and the lateness of its complaint response.
25. Miss X made a fresh application for housing in July 2024 and she sent further information in or around October 2024, including information about her son’s medical conditions. The Council assessed the information and decided the application on 11 December. It a letter to Miss X it explained that her application was unsuccessful. The Council noted that she lacked one bedroom. It explained that its lettings policy only allowed those who lacked two or more bedrooms to join the Housing Register. The Council explained in a separate letter that it had considered her son’s medical conditions but it did not consider he was at harm due to the inadequacy of their current property. As a result, there were no grounds to consider an application due to medical priority.

Was there fault by the Council

26. There was fault by the Council. There was delay in dealing with both housing applications. There were also persistent problems with the level of communication and responsiveness of the Council when contacted by Miss X. It delayed passing queries to the correct team on multiple occasions, sent them to the wrong team and, at times, failed to respond entirely. The Council also failed to promptly explain that the closure of her 2023 application was due to non-receipt of documents, and therefore not appealable. The overall service and response to Miss X about her application was poor.
27. The actual decision the Council made to decline Miss X’s 2024 housing application was in line with its policy. Miss X is overcrowded as she lacks one bedroom. However, the Council policy is only to allow those with severe overcrowding (those lacking two or more bedrooms) onto the Housing Register, so this was a decision it was entitled to make. As Miss X also has a living room, that could be used as a bedroom, she would not be considered to suffer from statutory overcrowding.

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Agreed action

28. Within four weeks of my final decision:
29. The Council agreed to send a written apology to Miss X for the delays in assessing her applications and for the persistent failure to respond to Miss X’s contacts. The apology should adhere to our guidance on making effective apologies. This can be found on our website, within our Guidance on Remedy here.
30. To recognise the time trouble and frustration caused to Miss X by its failings, the Council agreed to pay her £200 instead of the £100 it offered in response to her housing application complaint.
31. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

32. There was fault by the Council.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman