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London Borough of Lambeth (202234540)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202234540

Lambeth Council

4 June 2025

 

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

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s request to move to a different borough.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord. She lived with her family in a 2-bedroom flat, in a large block.
  2. In or around November 2020 the resident reported being threatened by her neighbour. On 25 November 2020 the resident was moved into temporary accommodation by the landlord due to the threat she had received. At the time of this determination, the resident remains in temporary accommodation.
  3. On 17 December 2020 the resident completed an emergency transfer application. The application was accepted, and the resident was given priority ‘banding’. The resident later requested that her application be nominated to a different local authority so that she could move to a different borough. The landlord sent this to the relevant local authority on 30 June 2021. The request was declined by that local authority on 30 September 2021.
  4. On 29 March 2023 the resident approached this Service. She said that she did not want to bid on any of the properties offered because they were in the original borough. She wanted to be moved to a different borough where her children were in school. The resident said that she did not feel safe in the original borough because of the threat that she had received in 2020. She wanted the landlord to secure a move to her desired borough.
  5. On 5 July 2023 we asked the landlord to respond to the resident’s outstanding concerns. It issued its stage 2 complaint response on 26 July 2023. It:
    1. said that it had no properties in the borough the resident wanted to move to, and had no power to allocate housing outside of its own stock
    2. said that it had spoken to the relevant local authority to ask if it would consider a ‘reciprocal transfer’ but that this was declined
    3. advised the resident to apply to the relevant local authority directly
  6. On 20 June 2024 the resident spoke to this Service. She confirmed that she wanted us to investigate. She remained unhappy because she wanted the landlord to facilitate a move outside of the area.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

  1. The resident’s complaint included a number of other issues including antisocial behaviour. However, following discussions with the resident, she has clarified that only the complaint relating to relocation to a different borough remains in dispute. This report has therefore focused only on this issue.
  2. We are unable to investigate a local authority’s management of its housing register. Such an investigation is more appropriate for the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO). The resident told us that she has not raised a complaint with the third-party local authority, so she may wish to do so in the first instance. She may then be able to refer the complaint to the LGSCO if she is dissatisfied with its response.
  3. The Ombudsman can, however, consider the landlord’s overall response and communication relating to the resident’s request that it take action to facilitate her move to a different borough.

The landlord’s response to the resident’s request to move to a different borough

  1. Following the resident’s transfer application on 17 December 2020, the resident requested to be nominated for a ‘reciprocal arrangement’ (mutual exchange) with another local authority. The evidence does not show the date on which the resident made this request. The landlord told the resident that it had passed this request to the relevant local authority but that the request had been declined. The resident told us that she was unhappy because she did not believe the landlord’s account of events. She said that she had received a conflicting report from the other local authority.
  2. The evidence supports the landlord’s account that it passed the request to the relevant local authority on 30 June 2021. The evidence shows that the request was declined on 30 September 2021. The landlord therefore acted reasonably by passing the request along as desired by the resident. The outcome of the request was outside the landlord’s control.
  3. In such circumstances, it is reasonable for a landlord to keep the resident informed. The evidence shows that the landlord appropriately updated the resident about the outcome of its request.
  4. In conclusion, the landlord acted reasonably. It is evident it made the request as discussed and that it kept the resident informed of the outcome. It also appropriately measured the resident’s expectations, as in its stage 2 complaint response, it noted that it had previously advised the resident that it had no power to allocate properties belonging to a different local authority and that the resident would need to approach the desired local authority directly. Therefore, there was no maladministration in the landlord’s response to the resident’s request to move to a different borough.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration in the landlord’s response to the resident’s request to move to a different borough.