Summary: Ms X complained the Council has failed to ensure her temporary accommodation is kept in good repair. She says delays and poor communication have caused her and her family inconvenience, distress and financial loss. The Council is at fault. It has agreed to pay her £400 to remedy the injustice caused and review its procedures.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council has failed to ensure her temporary accommodation is kept in good repair. She says there have been delays completing repairs and poor communication which have caused her and her family inconvenience, distress and financial loss. She wants the Council to complete the outstanding repairs, clarify to whom she can report future problems and provide a financial remedy for avoidable expenses she has incurred.

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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 investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended)
4. 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

5. I read Ms X’s complaint and spoke with her about it on the phone.
6. I made enquiries of the Council and considered information it sent me.
7. Ms X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on the draft decision. I considered their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

The main housing duty and temporary accommodation

8. Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities sets out councils’ powers and duties to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.
9. If a council is satisfied an applicant is homeless, eligible for assistance, and has a priority need, it has a duty to ensure that accommodation is available for their occupation. This is called the main housing duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 193)
10. Generally, a council carries out the duty by arranging temporary accommodation until it makes a suitable offer of social housing or private rented accommodation. The law says councils must ensure all accommodation provided to homeless applicants is suitable for the needs of the applicant and members of their household.
11. Many accepted homeless households remain in temporary accommodation for a long time while they bid for permanent housing through the authority’s housing allocations scheme.

The Council’s service level agreement with the property management agency

12. The Council has a service level agreement with a property management agency, agency A, which manages properties let to council tenants on its behalf. The agreement sets out that all premises licenced by the Council for occupation by Council tenants must meet the minimum standards set out in the agreement. Agency A must also ensure premises continue to meet the required standards throughout the period of the licence.
13. The service level agreement says:
• Agency A must repair and maintain premises and ensure the external appearance is clean and tidy both during and at the end of every tenancy.
• Any arrangement between the owner and the provider (agency A) for the carrying out of maintenance or repairs shall not excuse the provider from its primary responsibility or reduce its liability.
• Repairs shall be classed in two categories – emergency repairs and non-emergency repairs.
• Emergency repairs should be completed within five days of the repair being reported to the provider. Examples of emergency repairs include fire damage, severe water leaks, a blocked toilet or drain, or unsafe gas or electricity.
• Non-emergency repairs should be completed within 28 days.

What happened

14. In 2021, the Council had accepted it owed Ms X and her children the main housing duty and was providing them with temporary accommodation, managed on its behalf by agency A.
15. In February 2021, Ms X contacted the Council. She listed several repairs that needed completing, including damp issues and a blocked pipe in the kitchen. She said the blocked pipe was causing flooding and she was unable to use the washing machine. She also listed other repairs. The Council forwarded her email to agency A and asked it to arrange the necessary repairs.
16. Agency A acknowledged the Council’s email and said it would contact Ms X and keep the Council informed of progress with the repairs.
17. Ms X complained to the Council in March 2021. She said no one had contacted her to discuss or arrange the repairs. She said her kitchen was flooding due to the blocked pipe, and she was unable to use the washing machine causing significant inconvenience and distress.
18. The Council responded to her complaint. It accepted that agency A had not addressed the matter or met its duty to maintain the property to the required standards. It apologised for the stress this had caused. It said agency A had now assured it that it had arranged an engineer to repair the blocked pipe, and they would contact her directly to make an appointment.
19. Ms X replied to say the Council should not close her complaint until all the repairs were completed. She asked the Council to escalate her complaint to Stage 2 of its complaints process.
20. Some non-emergency repairs were completed in May and June 2021.
21. The Council sent her a stage 2 complaint response in June 2021. It apologised for the delay in responding. It said agency A had now resolved most of the repairs and would return to remedy anything that remained unresolved. It said the Council would continue to liaise with agency A to ensure that any outstanding issues were remedied to a good standard.
22. The Council said the landlord carried out damp treatment in July 2021. However, the damp quickly returned.
23. Ms X remained dissatisfied and brought her complaint to us. She said the blocked pipe in the kitchen had still not been repaired. It continued to cause flooding in the kitchen and she could still not use the washing machine. She said she had had to use a laundrette for her family’s laundry since February 2021, causing inconvenience and financial loss. She said there was still damp in the property and the ongoing problems and lack of action to address the repairs was causing her stress. She said the Council had not checked that agency A were completing the repairs as they said they would.
24. Ms X emailed the Council again in July 2021 to tell it again that the blocked pipe in the kitchen had still not been fixed. The Council forwarded her email to agency A and asked it to address the problem.
25. Two days later, agency A confirmed to the Council that it had instructed a plumber to attend. The plumber contacted Ms X directly and the pipe was unblocked on a date agreed with Ms X within the next two weeks.
26. In its response to our enquiries, the Council said that, in line with guidelines in the service agreement, it classed the blocked kitchen pipe as an emergency repair and would have expected agency A to resolve the problem within five days. It accepted there had been significant delay and this did not happen. It also accepted there had been delay attending to some of the non-emergency repairs. It said agency A had been unable to provide an explanation for some of the delays.
27. It also accepted it did not maintain contact with agency A after the stage 2 response to ensure all outstanding matters were addressed. It only contacted agency A again in July 2021, after further contact from Ms X. It said at the time of writing, work was ongoing to fix a roof leak, which had been identified as the cause of the damp in the property. It apologised to Ms X for the poor service and has offered her £100 by way of an apology.
28. It said it would have further meetings with agency A to address their repair procedures and provided contact details should Ms X need to report any future repair issues.

Analysis

29. Ms X reported several issues which needed repairs in February 2021. The Council has confirmed the blocked kitchen pipe was classified as an emergency repair and so should have been addressed within five days. Instead, it took six months before it was repaired. This is fault. Other non-emergency repairs Ms X reported in February 2021 should have been completed within 28 days. Some of these were not completed for three to four months and, by November 2021, nine months after raising the issues, work to resolve the damp issue was still ongoing. This is further fault.
30. The delays have caused Ms X considerable inconvenience and distress. She was unable to use her washing machine for six months meaning she had to use a laundrette, at her own expense. Ms X cares for children so the lack of washing machine is likely to have had a greater impact than if she had lived alone.
31. The Council has accepted it did not attend to the repairs within the agreed timescales. It has already apologised to Ms X within its complaint response and has now offered £100 by way of an apology. I do not consider this sufficient remedy for the distress, inconvenience and financial loss caused to Ms X. I have recommended a more suitable financial remedy below.
32. In both the stage one and stage two complaint responses, the Council said it had accepted assurances from agency A that it would complete the work. However, this did not happen. In the stage two response it said it would continue to liaise with agency A to ensure work was completed. It did not do this, which led to further delay. This was further fault which increased the injustice for Ms X who has gone to considerable time and trouble to pursue her complaint.

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Agreed action

33. Within one month of the final decision, the Council will pay Ms X £400 as a remedy. This figure is a combination of £300 to acknowledge the delays completing the repairs, the distress, inconvenience, and financial loss this has caused her, and a further £100 for the time and trouble taken to pursue her complaint.
34. Within three months of the final decision, the Council will provide evidence of its meetings with agency A referred to in its enquiry response to us. This should include:
• evidence of how it has reviewed agency A’s repair procedures; and
• how it will satisfy itself that agency A is completing required repairs in line with the timescales and standards set out within the service agreement going forward.

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Final decision

35. I have completed my investigation. I have found fault and the Council has agreed actions to remedy the injustice caused and improve Council services.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman