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. Mr X complained about the Council removing his application from the housing register in 2024 following his notification that he did not wish to be considered for sheltered accommodation for elderly persons. He says his application should be re-instated with an opportunity to bid on other types of 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 information provided by the complainant and the Council. I have also considered the Council’s housing allocations policy.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X says he was told his application was only eligible for sheltered housing and that he could not bid on any other type of property since his application was registered in Band C in 2022. In July 2024 he asked the Council to remove his eligibility for sheltered housing because he would not accept an offer of accommodation which he feels is unsuitable for him.
6. The Council says Mr X is currently housed in accommodation which is adequate for his needs and that he would not have been eligible to be on the register apart from his qualification for sheltered housing. As a result, his application was removed from the housing register because there were no other criteria which applied to it for it to be eligible under the allocations scheme.
7. Mr X asked the Council to review its decision and it did so but the outcome was unchanged. Mr X says his private tenancy is due to end in 2025 and he is concerned that he will be served with a notice and become homeless. The Council told him that if this occurs he will be considered under the homelessness duty which is separate to the housing allocations procedure.
8. 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.
9. 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. Mr X asked the Council to re-assess his application in relation to the accommodation he was eligible for. It did so according to the policy and as a result he was no longer a qualifying applicant under the scheme.

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Final decision

10. 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