Bedford Borough Council (BBC) has apologised to a resident and is paying her £250 for the distress caused after overlooking her for social housing properties.
She said BBC incorrectly failed to nominate her for properties she bid on in 2024, which led to her making a formal complaint in March 2025.
A local government watchdog has found fault by the council, which accepts it should have contacted a housing association to check if she was eligible to be nominated for some properties.
She was delayed in receiving a tenancy offer by more than four months, according to a local government and social care ombudsman’s report.
The complainant stated that “BBC failed to advise her that she wasn’t eligible to bid for some properties and that it incorrectly failed to offer some accommodation because she’d received an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) in the past”, explained the report.
“She also referred to issues at temporary accommodation in 2022, repairs at a social housing property and delays moving into her new home in 2025.
“Some of these matters she can pursue with the housing ombudsman.
“In 2022, she was assessed as requiring a one-bedroom property by BBC for her housing register application. The council requested information relating to her housing in May 2024 from ‘supporting agencies’, which appears to have included Bedfordshire Police.
“She bid on an adapted property in June, and appears to have been the highest placed applicant. Priority was awarded by BBC to another applicant, who required such accommodation because of assessed medical need.
“She was placed first for a property in July, but the council said she was unsuccessful because of ‘anti-social behaviour’. That caused her to be overlooked in November, when she was again the highest bidder.
She bid for two housing association properties in the same month, and was placed first for one property. BBC stated she was skipped for the second because she’d been successful bidding for the other.
“The complainant understood she was successful for the second one. The council subsequently told her that accommodation was allocated to another applicant, and she was offered the alternative property on the same estate.”
Apology
By the end of March, she moved into her new home, added the report. “The council emailed her saying it upheld her complaint about being overlooked for properties.
“She’d been the highest bidder on three separate homes, but hadn’t been nominated for the tenancies. BBC said it could ‘see no reason’ for the fault and apologised.
“But it hadn’t explained why she wasn’t offered the second property in November 2024. A request was made for the council to escalate the complaint.
“A final stage complaint response was issued by BBC last September, stating it wasn’t feasible to notify applicants when they were overlooked. Any delays with the move into the new home was a matter she should complain about to her new social housing landlord.
“Once the council passed a nomination for a property to the landlord, the matter was out of its control. I’ve seen a summary of the information BBC received from the police about her, none of which related to the ASBO.
“In February, BBC told the ombudsman it ignored her for three properties in 2024. It suggested the June 2024 bid was ‘incorrectly overlooked’ and ‘should have been offered’ to her.
“The council should have discussed with the housing association whether it would accept a nomination for her. She was therefore unfairly disadvantaged, given she was subsequently successful in being offered the tenancy for a housing association home.”
by Euan Duncan
Local Democracy Reporter
