A woman who had been on a housing waiting list for six years received an apology from the local council after being shown around a property which had already been accepted by someone else.
Hammersmith and Fulham Council invited the woman, who has been on its housing register since 2017, to view the three-bedroom home in July 2023.
But while she was at the viewing she was told by a council officer the property had been accepted by another applicant. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has now published its findings after the woman, referred to as Mrs X, complained.
The council will pay Mrs X a ‘symbolic payment’ of £250 and will produce a factsheet explaining its process from shortlisting a property to offering it to an applicant, as a result of the complaint. A spokesperson for Hammersmith and Fulham Council said the local authority has apologised to Mrs X and agrees with the Ombudsman’s findings.
The Ombudsman’s report details how Mrs X, who lives with her family in a two-bedroom property, had bid for a three-bedroom home advertised by the council in June 2023. She was contacted in July to be invited to a viewing and was, according to Mrs X, told by an officer that she was first in priority for the bid. She was then issued a written invitation by the council.
While at the property the following day, Mrs X was told the home had been accepted by another applicant who had been shown it via video. She was told that after the initial telephone conversation inviting her to view the property another applicant, who had already seen and refused it, had changed their mind and accepted the offer.
After escalating the issue to the officer’s manager, Mrs X was informed applicants are given 24 hours to make their final decision, and that when the council contacted her she was first on the shortlist. This however changed when the other applicant accepted the property.
On July 20 2023, Mrs X filed a stage one complaint with Hammersmith and Fulham raising issues including poor communication. The council responded on September 12 that year, in which it said Mrs X’s position was not high enough to have been shortlisted. It added there was high demand for social housing, and apologised to Mrs X.
The council’s response, however, was sent to an incorrect email address, and so having not received it, Mrs X complained to the Ombudsman in December 2023. She did subsequently receive the stage one response, though disagreed with its contents, and asked the council to escalate it to stage two.
In March 2024, the council issued its stage two response, apologising for delays and how it handled Mrs X’s complaint, and offering £100. She did not accept the payment, and continued to question why she was invited to view the property within the 24-hour timeframe following the home being offered to the other applicant.
In its analysis, the Ombudsman wrote the council’s scheme fails to make ‘robust provisions’ about how the viewing process works after a bidding cycle ends. “For instance, in this case, the council said it provided the other applicant with a 24-hour timeframe to make their final decision after they initially refused the property offer,” the Ombudsman wrote. “There was no evidence in the council’s housing scheme where the 24‑hour timeframe was specified.
“I therefore find fault by the council for its unclear policy and for its poor communication with Mrs X about its shortlist process and the process of allocation where there had been an initial refusal of a property offer. The council’s failings caused injustice to Mrs X. It raised Mrs X’s expectations and caused her confusion, uncertainty, distress, and disappointment.”
The Ombudsman also found the council had provided conflicting explanations to Mrs X about its shortlist process, and that there were delays in its response to her complaint. A further fault was that in its stage two response, it caused ‘further distress and uncertainty’ by not addressing her complaint about its selection and property allocation process.
Following the Ombudsman’s findings, the council has agreed to remedies including apologising to Mrs X and paying her £250, training staff on the importance of record keeping and providing clear and updated information to clients on the bidding and selection process, reminding staff of the complaint policy timescales, and producing the factsheet explaining its process.
A spokesperson for Hammersmith and Fulham Council said: “We have apologised to Mrs X for the poor service provided and agree with the findings of the Ombudsman. We have retrained staff on our offer procedure, and we will continue to make improvements to the housing service to meet the needs of all residents.”
