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Folkestone & Hythe District Council (202013935)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202013935

Folkestone & Hythe District Council

25 November 2021


Our approach

What we can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and is governed by the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. The Ombudsman must determine whether a complaint comes within their jurisdiction. The Ombudsman seeks to resolve disputes wherever possible but cannot investigate complaints that fall outside of this.

In deciding whether a complaint falls within their jurisdiction, the Ombudsman will carefully consider all the evidence provided by the parties and the circumstances of the case.

The complaint

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s banding decision following the applicant’s request to be rehoused.

Determination (jurisdictional decision)

  1. 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.
  2. After carefully considering all the evidence, I have determined that the complaint, as set out above, is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Summary of events

  1. On 7 April 2020 the applicant made an application for housing with the landlord. The landlord subsequently decided that she fell into Band E – general housing needs without priority.
  2. A local advocacy service and a housing solicitor made representations to the landlord on behalf of the applicant to try to demonstrate that she should be in a higher priority band and that she had a local connection.
  3. At both stages of its formal complaints procedure, the landlord took the view it had not been at fault in deciding the applicant’s banding award. In its final complaint response, the landlord signposted the applicant and her representative to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (the LGSCO).
  4. When the housing solicitor approached the Housing Ombudsman, she said that the landlord had failed to follow its own allocations policy with regards to its definition of local connection.

 

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 39(m) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme says that the Ombudsman will not investigate complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, fall properly within the jurisdiction of another Ombudsman, regulator or complaint-handling body.
  2. The Ombudsman cannot consider complaints about applications for re-housing that meet the reasonable preference criteria (dealt with by the local authority of any other body acting on its behalf, which includes housing associations). This includes complaints about the assessment of such applications, the award of points or banding. Such complaints are considered by the LGSCO.
  3. The representative told the Housing Ombudsman that the matter has since been resolved as the applicant has completed a mutual exchange to move into the area of her choosing.