Summary: Ms X complained about the Council’s handling of her housing application and that it had placed her in unsuitable temporary homeless accommodation. We found fault because the Council made administrative errors with her housing application and placed her into unsuitable accommodation. To remedy the injustice caused by this fault, the Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X and restate its previously suggested remedies. These include payments to Ms X and agreeing to source alternative temporary accommodation for Ms X and her children.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council incorrectly handled her housing register application. She also complains it placed her in temporary homeless accommodation that was not fit for habitation.
2. Ms X says this has affected her physical and mental health and caused her significant stress and frustration.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. 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)
4. 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)
5. When considering complaints, we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we look at the available relevant evidence and decide what was more likely to have happened.
6. 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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What I have and have not investigated

7. Paragraph four (above) applies to this complaint. I have exercised discretion to investigate Ms X’s complaint back to July 2022 which is when she first approached the Council to register her housing application and presented to it as homeless. I am therefore satisfied it is reasonable to include this period in my investigation.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I have considered all the information Ms X provided and discussed this complaint with her. I have also asked the Council questions and requested information, and in turn have considered the Council’s response.
9. Ms X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I have taken any comments received into consideration before reaching my final decision.

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What I found

Homelessness legislation and statutory guidance

10. Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities set out councils’ powers and duties to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.

Interim and temporary accommodation

11. There are two types of accommodation councils provide to certain homeless applicants: interim accommodation and temporary accommodation.
12. A council must secure accommodation for applicants and their household if it has reason to believe they may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need. This is called interim accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 188)
13. If, having made inquiries, the council is not satisfied an applicant is homeless, eligible, and in priority need, it will have no further accommodation duty.
14. If a council is satisfied an applicant is unintentionally homeless, eligible for assistance, and has a priority need, the council has a duty to secure that accommodation is available for their occupation. This is called the main housing duty. The accommodation a council provides until it can end this duty is called temporary accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 193)

Suitable temporary accommodation

15. Homelessness temporary accommodation must be legally suitable. (Housing Act 1996, section 206) Anyone who believes their temporary accommodation is unsuitable can ask the Council to review the accommodation’s suitability. (Housing Act 1996, section 202) If the Council’s review decides the accommodation is unsuitable, the Council must provide suitable accommodation. If the review decides the accommodation is suitable, the applicant has the right to appeal to the county court on a point of law. (Housing Act 1996, section 204)

The Council’s housing register and allocations scheme

16. Every local housing authority must publish an allocations scheme that sets out how it prioritises applicants, and its procedures for allocating housing. All allocations must be made in strict accordance with the published scheme. (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(1) & (14))
17. The Council operates a choice-based lettings scheme which enables housing applicants to bid for available properties which it advertises.

What happened

18. I have set out below a summary of the key events. This is not meant to show everything that happened.
19. Ms X approached the Council to say she was homeless in the summer of 2022. The Council placed her and her children in interim accommodation (a hotel) whilst it made inquiries as to whether it owed her the main housing duty.
20. In mid-November 2022, the Council sent Ms X a letter to advise it was accepting the main duty to house her under its homelessness duties.
21. At the end of November 2022, Ms X was offered temporary accommodation as part of this duty.
22. At the beginning of December 2022, and after further discussion with her, the Council advised Ms X that it believed the property was suitable, that she could accept it and seek a review of its suitability after that.
23. In mid-December 2022, Ms X signed a tenancy agreement for the property, moved out of her interim accommodation and into the property.
24. A few days later, Ms X emailed the Council to complain about damp and mould in the property. She said the property was already creating health issues, it smelt of damp and the floorboards were rotten and wet. She advised she needed to leave the windows open constantly to remove the smell of damp and mould.
25. By mid-January 2023, the Council had arranged for a third party to inspect the property. After the inspection, the Council decided significant works needed to be carried out to rectify the issues identified. Ms X would need to move out whilst the works were done.
26. The Council anticipated the works would take up to six weeks to complete and advised Ms X that it could move her to a hotel in the meantime. Ms X declined a further stay in a hotel as her recent interim accommodation had been a hotel stay. She said she would stay with friends during the time works were being done on the property.
27. After initially saying she wanted to return to the property after works had been completed, Ms X advised the Council that she would like it to find her another property. The Council confirmed it could not advise how long it would take to find her other alternative temporary accommodation.
28. In mid-February 2023, Ms X emailed the Council to ask for an update as she had not heard about what was happening with the works until contractors had called her that morning, looking to start work at the property. She repeated her wish to be housed in an alternative property and confirmed that she could stay with friends in the meantime.
29. At the end of February 2023, the contractor emailed the Council to advise remedial works had now been completed.
30. Early in May 2023, Ms X emailed the Council to chase for an update as she had not heard anything since sending her email to the Council in mid-February. The Council advised her works were complete and that she could return to the property.
31. Ms X visited the property and emailed the Council to advise it still felt and smelt damp and that there was still mould under the carpet.
32. Following internal discussions at the Council, it advised Ms X it would not be offering her a different property but that it would stop her old tenancy agreement and start a new one from mid-May 2023, now that the property was ready to move back into.
33. After further discussions throughout the rest of May and into June 2023, the Council provided Ms X with a new tenancy start date of mid-June 2023. Ms X then moved back into the property.

Ms X’s complaints to the Council

34. At the beginning of March 2023, Ms X complained to the Council. She asked for her position on the Council’s housing register to be reviewed. She said she wanted this to happen as the Council had placed her in unsuitable temporary accommodation and that she had been removed from the housing register numerous times without reason.
35. At the beginning of May 2023, the Council sent its stage one complaint response. This confirmed that despite administration errors on its part linked to homelessness applications, Ms X had not applied to it to join the housing register until July 2022.
36. After she escalated her complaint to stage two of the Council’s process, it sent a response at the end of July 2023. In this response, the Council:
• gave more detail on the administration errors;
• confirmed that her correct application date was July 2022 and that errors had “never been detrimental” to her in terms of her position when bidding for properties;
• confirmed it had placed her bidding account on hold before completing robust checks on her housing application in August 2022 as there appeared to be two similar applications in her name;
• advised that in December 2022, after contact from Ms X’s MP, an officer found that when they were checked again, the two applications checked in August were duplicates of each other; and
• confirmed any other later housing applications merged information onto her original reference number before being closed.
37. In relation to her temporary accommodation, the Council advised Ms X that its contractors had failed to identify works which needed to be carried out before she was assigned the property in 2022. It confirmed it had adjusted its rent accounts and that she was liable from the date of the new tenancy being signed in June 2023, not before.
38. The Council upheld Ms X’s complaint and offered her:
• £100 for a delay in responding to her complaint;
• £500 for the delay in completing works at her property; and
• £250 to recognise the time and inconvenience experienced in order to get the works in her home completed.
39. The Council signposted Ms X to the Ombudsman if she remained unhappy. She brought her complaint to us at the end of August 2023.
40. In November 2023, Ms X made a further complaint to the Council to advise the mould and damp had returned. The Council’s original contractor reattended to assess the issues.
41. Throughout November and December 2023, the contractor tried unsuccessfully to arrange an appointment with Ms X for it to carry out remedial works.
42. After the Council contacted her in January 2024, Ms X emailed it with various concerns. She repeated her unhappiness at the condition of the property and said she could not afford the time to deal with further repairs and refused to allow any more contractors into the house.

The Council’s updated suggested remedy

43. In its response to my enquiries at the beginning of February 2024, the Council suggested the following remedy. It chose to share this remedy with Ms X before my draft decision was written.
44. The Council suggested:
• that to recognise that damp and mould issues continue, it would source Ms X suitable alternative accommodation as soon as possible;
• an initial payment of £8700 to recognise that it had provided unsuitable accommodation to her from late December 2022 (when she initially signed the original tenancy agreement) to the end of January 2024. This was calculated at 58 weeks at a rate of £150 per week;
• an ongoing payment of £150 per week (paid at the end of each month) until she is moved to suitable alternative accommodation;
• £150 to recognise the time and trouble caused to her for both elements of the upheld stage two complaint (housing register and disrepair of accommodation);
• £500 to recognise the distress caused; and
• £100 to recognise a delay in responding at stage two of her complaint.
45. The total amount offered was £9450, not taking into account the ongoing payment until being placed into temporary accommodation the Council considers to be suitable.
46. Ms X has confirmed to me that she has not yet accepted the £9450 financial aspect of the Council’s remedy offer or given it her bank details for the weekly payment aspect. Ms X said she remains in the same property at the current time and is soon to view an alternative property.

Analysis

Housing register application

47. A housing register application is separate to a homelessness application.
48. Ms X had made previous homelessness applications prior to summer of 2022. I am satisfied from the evidence presented by the Council that Ms X’s housing register application date was the beginning of July 2022. Homelessness applications had been made before, but not a housing register application. On this basis, I do not find fault in the actions of the Council in terms of what Ms X’s true housing register application date was.
49. However, as a result of the previous homelessness applications made before the period of this investigation, Ms X already had a reference number. When Ms X completed her housing register application in July 2022, this created a new additional reference number.
50. The Council identified that similar information was held on the two applications so put her account on hold for almost eight weeks whilst it made cross checks. When completed, the Council sent Ms X its notification of her priority for housing but there is no evidence to suggest it merged the new housing application and the old homelessness application together or gave Ms X advice on what to do to get them merged, as it should have done.
51. This then led to further confusion in November 2022, when Ms X called to discuss her housing application and gave the newer reference number, not the old one. Ms X had been trying to bid for properties on the newer reference number when it should have been merged and she should have been told to bid for permanent housing on the old reference number instead.
52. The Council has confirmed that at this time, it gave Ms X further incorrect advice. It apologised for this in its stage two complaint response. The confusion and administration errors on the Council’s part are fault. This meant that from July 2022 to the beginning of December 2022, Ms X either did not have the ability to bid as her account was on hold or did not have the correct information to be able to bid using an active account as the Council had not clarified what she needed to do or merged the old and new applications together.
53. In response to my enquiries, the Council provided details on Ms X’s bidding history and how high/low she ranked on the bids she had made for permanent housing. Given this evidence, on the balance of probabilities, I consider it was unlikely that Ms X was disadvantaged in her ability to successfully bid for a property when she was unable to. There is however, the uncertainty that she may have been able to successfully bid for a property had she had access to an active account. This will have caused Ms X distress and frustration. I have made a recommendation below to remedy this injustice.

Unsuitable temporary accommodation

54. As per its suggested remedy, the Council has decided that the property was never a suitable property for Ms X and her children to be allocated and that it continues to be unsuitable due to persistent issues with damp and mould. In the circumstances of this complaint, the Council’s suggestion of a remedy recognises the injustice caused to Ms X by the unsuitable property and the distress and frustration this has caused her.
55. The Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies sets out how we recommend councils remedy injustice. When considering unsuitable temporary homeless accommodation, the guidance sets out that financial redress is likely to be between £150 and £350 per month, based on the facts of the individual complaint. For example, a situation where a disabled person could not access any bathing facilities may prompt a remedy at the upper end of the range.
56. I am satisfied that the Council’s suggested remedy of £150 per week to recognise the unsuitability of the property is greater than any recommendation the Ombudsman is likely to suggest in similar circumstances. On this basis, I consider that the suggested cumulative payment of £9450 is sufficient to remedy any injustice caused to Ms X by the circumstances presented in this complaint and any linked delay or distress that may have been caused or continue to be caused.
57. I also consider that the Council’s suggested ongoing payment of £150 per week to recognise the continued unsuitability of the property is also greater than any recommendation the Ombudsman is likely to make in similar circumstances and therefore remedies any ongoing injustice.
58. I do not intend to make any further suggestion of symbolic financial remedy other than that already offered by the Council.

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Agreed action

59. To remedy the injustice caused by the faults I have identified, the Council has agreed to take the following action within four weeks of the date of my final decision:
• make an effective apology to Ms X for the distress of placing her into unsuitable accommodation and for the confusion and uncertainty caused by administration errors linked to her housing register application;
• restate to Ms X its offer of £9450 (as detailed above in paragraph 44); and
• restate its offer to pay Ms X £150 per week (as detailed above in paragraph 44), from the beginning of February 2024 until alternative temporary accommodation, which the Council considers is suitable, is identified.
60. The apology written should be in line with the Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies on making an effective apology.
61. The Council should continue to try and source alternative temporary accommodation, that it considers to be suitable.
62. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

63. I have now completed my investigation. I uphold this complaint with a finding of fault causing an injustice.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman