Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mrs X’s homelessness. It is reasonable to expect Mrs X to use her legal review right about the suitability of her current temporary accommodation. We cannot achieve significantly more about the priority banding of Mrs X’s housing application. The Council has not had a reasonable opportunity to deal with other parts of the complaint.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained to us: her family’s current temporary accommodation is unsuitable; the Council had not given her housing register application the correct priority; her previous interim accommodation was also unsuitable; and she wanted the Council to give her a particular social housing property.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

Suitability of Mrs X’s current temporary accommodation

6. Homelessness temporary accommodation must be legally suitable. (Housing Act 1996, section 206) Anyone who believes their temporary accommodation is unsuitable can ask the Council to review the suitability. (Housing Act 1996, section 202) If the review decides the accommodation is unsuitable, the Council must provide suitable accommodation. If the review decides the accommodation is suitable, the applicant can appeal to the county court on a point of law. (Housing Act 1996, section 204) If the court decides the accommodation is unsuitable, the Council must then provide suitable accommodation.
7. The Council is now reviewing the accommodation’s suitability. The law expressly provides this route for disputes about the suitability of temporary accommodation, so we normally expect people to use this route. It is reasonable to expect Mrs X to await the Council’s review decision. If the review decision is favourable to Mrs X, the Council will have to provide suitable temporary accommodation. If the review decision is not favourable, Mrs X will then be able to consider the court appeal right. In the circumstances, it is not appropriate for the Ombudsman to become involved in deciding whether the current temporary accommodation is suitable.

Mrs X’s priority banding on the housing register

8. Mrs X’s complaint to us said the Council had not increased her housing register priority to Band A as it should have done. I have not seen evidence of the Council having a reasonable opportunity to deal with a formal from Mrs X about this. So the restriction in paragraph 3 is relevant. However, I have enough information to deal substantively with this point now. Two weeks after Mrs X’s complaint to us, the Council moved her housing register application into Band A. That is what Mrs X wanted her complaint to achieve. Investigation by us could not achieve significantly more. In that context, it would be disproportionate for us to investigate this point now.

Other points of complaint

9. Mrs X also complained to us about:
1. the suitability of previous interim accommodation (a hotel), and
2. her wanting the Council to give her a particular vacant long-term social housing property as an emergency move before other applicants in Band A. This point arose after Mrs X’s first complaint to us.
10. I have seen no evidence of Mrs X making a formal complaint to the Council about these points. So the restriction in paragraph 3 applies to these points. There is not good enough reason for us to investigate these points now. Mrs X could reasonably take through the Council’s complaint procedure a complaint about the previous hotel accommodation. With the particular house Mrs X wanted, it is not the Ombudsman’s role to intervene in new developments and say which house the Council should allocate to which applicant. If Mrs X believes the Council was at fault for not offering her that property, she should complete the Council’s complaint procedure on this point first.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. It is reasonable to expect Mrs X to use her legal review right about the suitability of her current temporary accommodation. We cannot achieve significantly more regarding the priority banding of Mrs X’s housing application. The Council has not had a reasonable opportunity to deal with other parts of the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman