Summary: A private landlord complains the Council took too long to end the tenancy of one of its tenants, who had lost the capacity to make that decision for herself, resulting in it losing out on housing benefit for many months. The Council took far too long to apply to the Court of Protection for permission to end the tenancy. While this did not result in a loss of housing benefit, it prevented the landlord from selling the property and put it to considerable trouble in chasing the Council for updates. The Council needs to apologise.

The complaint

1. The complainant, a private landlord, complains the Council took too long to end the tenancy of one of its tenants, who had lost the capacity to make that decision for herself, resulting in it losing out on housing benefit for many months.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered evidence provided by the landlord and the Council, as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
5. The landlord and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

What happened

6. The landlord’s tenant received housing benefit from the Council, which was paid directly to the landlord. The tenant went into hospital in May 2021. By July they had moved to a care home. The Council’s social services told the landlord the tenant did not have the mental capacity to terminate their tenancy, so it would have to apply to the Court of Protection for permission to end the tenancy on their behalf.
7. The landlord responded to social services requests for information about the tenancy. In October social services said the matter was with the Council’s legal team.
8. The landlord regularly chased the Council for updates, which said the matter was with its legal team.
9. The Council continued to pay housing benefit until August 2022. It later reclaimed an overpayment of housing benefit (over £3,000) from March (when the housing benefit team learned the tenant was no longer living in the property) to August 2022. The landlord did not appeal the Council’s decision to recover the overpayment.
10. In October 2022 the Council finally made an application to the Court of Protection.
11. In December the Court told the Council it needed to make the application on a different form. The Council submitted the correct form in February 2023.
12. The Court made an order in March 2023, giving permission for the Council to end the tenancy, but the Council did not receive the order until June 2023.
13. The Council ended the tenancy in July 2023. The landlord sold the property a few months later. Throughout the whole process, the landlord regularly chased the Council for updates on progress.
14. In October 2023 the landlord complained about the failure to pay housing benefit while also preventing it from ending the tenancy and taking possession of the property. The Council did not respond.
15. After the landlord contacted us in June 2024, the Council said it had not received a complaint from the landlord, so would respond to the complaint via its complaints procedure.
16. In August the Council told the landlord it had visited the tenant in the care home to get them to sign the form to end the tenancy, but took the wrong form. It asked the landlord to provide the correct form. The landlord pointed out that the tenancy had been ended in July 2023. It said it wanted the Council to pay housing benefit until the tenancy was ended. The Council told the landlord there had been an overpayment (£6,134) of housing benefit from June 2021 to March 2022, but said it would not recover it from the landlord. The Council says this was because it could not confirm the date it knew the tenant vacated the property.

Is there evidence of fault by the Council which caused injustice?

17. The Council took far too long to apply to the Court of Protection for permission to end the tenancy. It first identified the need to do this in July 2021, but didn’t submit an application until October 2022. This did not result in the landlord losing out on housing benefit payment to cover the tenant’s rent for two reasons
• The tenant was not eligible for housing benefit after they moved to a care home;
• If there had been no delay in applying to the Court for permission to end the tenancy, the landlord would have been able to sell the property sooner.
18. It is not possible to identify a financial loss resulting from this delay. Nevertheless, the landlord was put to significant trouble in pursuing the Council for updates and in chasing a response to its complaint. This warrants an apology.

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Action

19. I recommend the Council:
• Writes to the landlord apologising for the delay in applying to the Court of Protection for permission to end the tenancy, and the time and trouble caused by chasing updates and making the complaint.
20. The Council has agreed to do this. It should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

21. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed to remedy the injustice caused.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman