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

1. Mrs X complained about the Council’s failure to re-house her even though she has been on the housing register since 2017 for a transfer to a bigger home. She says she was awarded mobility category 2 in 2023 following her son having an injury which he requires a wheelchair. However, despite this need being recognised she has not bene made any offers of a suitable property.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council’s response.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mrs X lives in a 3-bedroom Council rented property. She says her family is living in overcrowded circumstances and her son who lives with her sustained a head injury in 2023 which requires use of a wheelchair and level-access shower. She applied for a transfer to a 4-bedroomed house in 2017 and says that she has not received any offers since then. She was on the list in 2022 but is now 13th which she cannot understand.
6. The Council told her that 4-bedroom vacancies are few in its area and as she now requires a house with a level access shower this will make finding a suitable property even more difficult. At present the waiting time in the Council’s area for a 4-bedroom property is 29 years based on 2023 figures. The Council told Mrs X that her position on the register will change according to new applications or changes of applicants circumstances where they may have higher priority than her for medical or social reasons identified under its allocations policy.
7. 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. There is no specific timescale for when a council might make an offer of accommodation to an applicant because this depends on vacancies occurring and the housing demand at the time.

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Final decision

8. 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.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman