Summary: Ms X complained the Council did not take reasonable steps to protect her belongings when she became homeless in 2015. She says because of this she had to pay for private storage and went into debt. The Council did not properly consider its duty or advise Ms X of options in 2015. It took until Ms X’s complaint in 2016 to properly advise. To remedy injustice caused by this fault it has agreed to calculate and pay for Ms X’s storage space costs between July 2015 until August 2016. It will calculate this having regard to the floor space Ms X rented from the storage firm, using its average cost of storage funding as a basis. It will also pay her £150 for time and trouble, and develop advice for people facing homelessness on their options.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that when she was evicted in 2015 the Council did not take reasonable steps to protect her belongings or help her to do so. She says it did not tell her she could ask it to store her belongings. She says this meant she had to pay for private storage and has therefore gone into debt.

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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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. The events Ms X complained about date back to 2015. However she only became aware of the potential fault more recently. I have therefore exercised discretion to investigate back to 2015.
5. If we are satisfied with a council’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

6. I spoke to Ms X and her representative, Mr Y, about her complaint.
7. I asked the Council questions about the complaint and considered evidence it provided.
8. I gave the Council, Ms X and her representative the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

Background

9. The Housing Act 1996 gives councils a duty to protect a homeless person’s property in some circumstances. Councils have a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent loss or damage to the person’s property when it thinks:
• there is a danger the person’s personal property will be lost or damaged,
• the danger arises because the person cannot protect or deal with it themselves, and
• no other suitable arrangements have been made.
10. This duty applies in a range of circumstances including when the council has a main housing duty or a short-term accommodation duty to the person who is in believed to be in priority need.
11. Islington Council has an arrangement where people it has placed in temporary accommodation can ask it to arrange to store furniture until they are in a settled home or the Council no longer has a duty to them. The Council says it will only arrange storage for large items such as furniture including kitchen ‘white goods’.
12. The Council does not provide storage for personal belongings, clothes, toys and other kitchen equipment.
13. The Council charges a one-off fee of £130 for collection, storage and return. To apply people must send the Council a detailed list of items.
14. The Council calculates its average storage costs (up to April 2019) as being £26.35 per 250 cubic feet.

What happened

15. Ms X was evicted from a council property in July 2015. The Council decided she was intentionally homeless. At a later review it overturned that decision and, in April 2016 it accepted a duty to accommodate her. Those decisions are not the subject of this investigation. Before her eviction, Mr Y, working for a charity supporting Ms X had contacted the Council asking it to advise her about storage options.
16. Ms X moved into temporary accommodation in July 2015. She had to put furniture and belongings in storage she arranged herself. In August 2015, Mr Y wrote to the Council asking it to let Ms X know about assistance it could provide with storage. It did not provide her with this information.
17. In September 2015 Ms X’s member of parliament (MP) contacted the Council about Ms X’s situation. Amongst other matters he asked if it could help her with the cost of storage.
18. The Council responded to the MP two months later in November 2015, apologising to him for its delay. It told the MP that Ms X should contact it directly to ask it to arrange storage. It explained the fee and that it would only store furniture and white goods. It did not contact Ms X directly about this.
19. In August 2016, Mr Y wrote to the Council about Ms X’s ongoing housing situation. He said he had been with Ms X when Council officers had told her it should have explained and offered her storage solutions for her household effects on the day of eviction. It had offered to help her with paperwork. He said, despite chasing this up, the Council had not got in touch.
20. Ms X complained to the Council later in August 2016 about its actions regarding the eviction which is not part of this complaint. She also complained it had not told her about help with storage. She had therefore used commercial storage. The Council replied to say it would not reimburse her costs so far but could store certain items from now on if she paid a one-off £130 fee. It told Ms X to contact it with a list of items she wanted placed in storage. Ms X responded with a further request for compensation but did not send details of what she wanted stored.
21. Ms X complained again to the Council about several matters, including the storage issue. The Council responded at stage two of its complaints procedure to say it had dealt with the matter. It again offered to store large items if Ms X provided a list. It gave Ms X details of how to ask for a Chief Executive (stage 3) investigation. Ms X did not provide the Council with the list.
22. Ms X complained again in October 2017 about a range of matters that are not the subject of this investigation, as well as the storage issue. The Council replied to say she had not asked for help with storage when she was made homeless. She had also not sent it a list of items she wanted stored as requested. It offered Ms X £150 for time and trouble making her complaints about this and its delays replying to her. It told her she could appeal to the Chief Executive stage of its complaint process which she then did.
23. The Council’s Chief Executive stage response reconsidered the storage issue. The Council offered to pay Ms X £57.86 per month for a three-month period, based on average storage costs. It calculated this as the period from September 2015 when Ms X’s MP asked it about storage until November 2015 when the Council replied to the MP with advice. In total therefore it offered £373.58 which also included a sum for time and trouble and because of its delays responding to Ms X. It said it would also review its standard letters for people facing eviction to ensure they mentioned storage.
24. Ms X replied sending copies of receipts showing what she had paid for storage. The Council said it would not increase its offer as it had asked Ms X several times to provide lists of items and asked her to pay the £130 standard fee for storage. She had not done so. It said it could not review the standard letter as this had to be worded in a certain way by law. It was developing an advice leaflet for people going into temporary accommodation which suggested discussing storage with the case worker. The Council referred Ms X to the Ombudsman and she then complained to us.
25. Ms X told me she had struggled to pay for storage and the Council had not helped her. She provided me with invoices showing a weekly cost of storage for her belongings of between £60 - £79 over several years.
26. The Council, in response to my enquiries, said it had reconsidered the case. It accepted it should have got in touch with Ms X directly about the issue in September 2015 when it was contacted by Ms X’s MP.
27. It has offered to reimburse Ms X’s costs of storage for 11 months. This is calculated as being from the point when the MP got in touch with it in September 2015 until Ms X’s complaint in August 2016. It has calculated this as £786.46. This is based on estimated storage costs of £57.86 per month plus £150 for time and trouble. It says this was based on its average of £26.35 per 250 cubic feet of storage per month. It did not though base this on any knowledge of how much storage Ms X had used. After August 2016 it said Ms X knew about the Council storage option and had not taken this up.
28. It said it was still developing the advice leaflet to provide information for people going into temporary accommodation. This mentions residents can discuss storage options with their case worker. It says it will not actively offer storage to all residents going into temporary accommodation.

My findings

29. When Ms X became homeless in June 2015 the Council had a duty to consider whether it was necessary for it to take steps to protect Ms X’s property. To do this, it should have considered whether her property was at risk of loss or damage because she was not able to protect it and had no other suitable arrangements. There is no evidence it made this decision, despite Ms X and Mr Y requesting advice from it about storage. This is fault. This was a difficult time and Ms X should not have been expected to know what help was available. Her representative Mr Y has provided evidence he and Ms X were asking for help with this matter.
30. When Ms X’s MP asked the Council to help Ms X with storage, this provided another opportunity for it to consider its duty and how it needed to meet that duty. It did not do so, although it told the MP about the option of storage of large items. It did not follow this up with Ms X. This was despite Mr Y also contacting the Council at the same time to ask it for advice about storage.
31. Once Mr Y contacted the Council and Ms X complained in August 2016 the Council explained its policy and asked her for details of what she wanted stored. This was appropriate advice. Ms X could have responded with a list, allowing the Council to consider how to appropriately meet its duty. Since then it repeatedly asked her for this information so it could consider helping her with storage costs. She did not do so although she did provide invoices covering the cost of her privately arranged storage.
32. As a result of the Council’s fault Ms X was not aware the Council had a duty to protect her belongings in some circumstances from July 2015 until August 2016. This does not mean the Council should pay the full commercial cost of Ms X’s storage during that time. It did not have a duty to store all her belongings. Instead it had a duty to consider what was necessary to prevent their loss or damage. It failed to do so.
33. Therefore, to remedy the injustice to Ms X by this fault the Council should calculate and pay her storage costs from July 2015 until August 2016. It should calculate this using the amount of square footage of storage space Ms X used during this time, and its average payment of £26.35 per 250 cubic feet of storage per month.
34. This is an extra three months on top of the amount the Council suggested in response to my enquiries. This is because the Council did not properly consider its duty when Ms X became homeless. It should also pay her £150 for time and trouble pursuing her complaint.
35. During my investigation the Council completed an advice leaflet for people facing homelessness which covers advice about storage options. This should ensure people now know to discuss the options available for discussion with caseworkers.

Agreed action

36. Within one month of my final decision the Council will:
• Ask Ms X for details of the floor space she paid to store her belongings between July 2015 and August 2016.
• Pay Ms X an amount that that covers her reasonable storage costs for this period, calculated using the Council’s average cost of £26.35 per 250 cubic feet per month for those 14 months.
• Pay Ms X a further £150 for time and trouble to pursue the complaint

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Final decision

37. I have completed my investigation because I have found fault causing Ms X injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice to Ms X. It has already carried out action to prevent reoccurrence.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman