Nottingham City Council (05C02965)

Housing allocations                    Maladministration causing injustice

19 April 2007

The complaint

Miss F was a young homeless single mother with a six-year-old daughter. She complained that the Council allocated her a house that was so filthy and in such poor condition that it could not be lived in.

What happened

Miss F was accepted by the Council as being homeless and in priority need, and was offered a property. When they visited the house, accompanied by a housing officer, Miss F and her mother and sister said they were met by an overpowering smell of urine when they entered, the house was filthy and the garden was seriously overgrown. A councillor who visited said the property was “stomach turning”, with human faeces on the walls, skirting boards and floors, and urine-soaked floor boards. Miss F accepted the offer because she was told that she would not be offered any other properties if she refused.

The Council then:

• failed to repaint and clean the house before the tenancy started;
• left Miss F to clean the house and then three months later, when she had done a lot of work, accepted that it was not fit to live in;
• fitted a replacement kitchen on to smoke-blackened walls and without space for a washing machine; and
• failed to clear the severely neglected garden before the tenancy started and then threatened her with action because of its condition.

When the Council eventually agreed to do the necessary work, the contractor estimated that it would cost over £11,500.

The Ombudsman’s view

The Ombudsman was critical of the Council for making the offer of accommodation that was in such a poor condition. She said:

“I am appalled that any applicant for housing, particularly, as in this particular case, a young, single mother presenting as homeless and therefore likely to be vulnerable, should be invited to view a house in the dreadful condition in which this house clearly was.”

She was also critical of the failure to keep proper records, the failure to bring the property into an acceptable condition when it was aware of the problems, and the failure to respond properly to Miss F’s reasonable requests and representations about the property.

Outcome

In accordance with the Ombudsman's recommendations, the Council:

• reviewed its approach to homeless applicants;
• reviewed its procedures to ensure that no other homeless applicant was treated in this way; and
• paid Miss F £2,450 in recognition of the distress caused to her and the delay in making the property habitable.

Date Updated: 13/01/09