Islington Council (202333414)
Our approach
The Housing Ombudsman’s approach to investigating and determining complaints is to decide what is fair in all the circumstances of the case. This is set out in the Housing Act 1996 and the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme). The Ombudsman considers the evidence and looks to see if there has been any ‘maladministration’, for example whether the landlord has failed to keep to the law, followed proper procedure, followed good practice, or behaved in a reasonable and competent manner.
Both the resident and the landlord have submitted information to the Ombudsman, and this has been carefully considered. Their accounts of what has happened are summarised below. This report is not an exhaustive description of all the events that have occurred in relation to this case, but an outline of the key issues as a background to the investigation’s findings.
The complaint
- The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s rehousing application.
Determination (jurisdictional decision)
- When a complaint is brought to the Ombudsman, we must consider all the circumstances of the case as there are sometimes reasons why a complaint will not be investigated.
- After carefully considering all the evidence, we have determined that the complaint, as set out above, is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.
Summary of events
- The evidence shows the resident has been bidding on homes to move to because her current home is overcrowded.
- The resident contacted the landlord from October to November 2023 asking for clarity about its repeat requests for documents for her rehousing request, such as proof of identify. She also made enquiries about a new build property she said she had been shortlisted for. On 19 December 2023, the landlord said the new build properties had been allocated and provided details of the applicants with successful bids.
- On 14 December 2023, the resident complained to the landlord about its bidding process and about how it had been communicating with her about her application.
- On 29 February 2024, the landlord issued its final complaint response. It said the resident was shortlisted on bidding points priority order for 6 housing association properties, in line with the local lettings policy. It said of a total of 21 applicants shortlisted, the resident was number 21. It said it had requested supporting documents as the previously supplied information had been filed using an incorrect application reference. It did not uphold her complaint. The landlord said it had properly requested supporting documents and correctly applied her bid in line with its policy and bidding points priority. The landlord referred the resident to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) if she remained dissatisfied.
Reasons
- This complaint concerns the landlord’s handling of the resident’s rehousing applications in the shortlisting of a property, in its capacity as a local council. The LGSCO is the appropriate body to consider complaints about actions and decisions made by local councils. Paragraph 42.j. of the Scheme states the Ombudsman will not investigate complaints which fall properly within the jurisdiction of another Ombudsman, regulator, or complaint-handling body.
- Accordingly, the complaint is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction to consider in line with paragraph 42.j. of the Scheme. This includes complaints concerning applications for rehousing that meet the reasonable preference criteria, and the assessment of such applications. The resident may wish to refer her concerns about this to the LGSCO.
- The LGSCO can be contacted by phone on 0300 061 0614, or at their website: www.lgo.org.uk/contact-us