Summary: Ms X complained the Council failed to properly consider her application for housing assistance. We found the Council’s consideration of the application via homelessness legislation was appropriate. However, there were delays in assessing the application and granting housing priority points. We recommended an apology and a modest payment to reflect the issues we identified.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council failed to properly deal with her request to join its housing register. She complains her request should have been dealt with as a transfer from her existing social landlord and the Council has not given her access to bid on properties or the appropriate housing priority.
2. Ms X also complains that the Council had failed to become involved in or investigate her complaint about her current social landlord. She complained her landlord’s actions towards her had been unreasonable and she had been subject to harassment and discrimination.

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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. 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)
4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended).
5. 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

6. We are investigating the first part of the complaint to understand how the Council dealt with Ms X’s application for housing. We will investigate the events of this complaint up until July 2024 when she made a complaint to us. We are not investigating the second part of the complaint about her treatment by her existing social landlord. Such a complaint should be made to the social landlord themselves in the first instance, and then to the Housing Ombudsman if Ms X remains unhappy with their response.

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Homelessness Code of Guidance

9. If a housing authority has reason to believe that a person applying for assistance may be homeless or threatened with homelessness, the housing authority must make inquiries to satisfy itself whether the applicant is eligible for assistance and if so, whether any duty is owed to them under Part 7 of the 1996 Act. When a housing authority has completed its inquiries it must notify the applicant in writing of its decisions. If the decision is decided against the applicant’s interests, the notification should inform the applicant of the reasons for the decision. If appropriate, it should also set out an applicant’s right to request a review of the decision (Housing Act Section 184(3) and 184(5))

The prevention duty

10. If councils are satisfied that an applicant is threatened with homelessness and eligible for assistance, they must help the applicant to ensure accommodation that is available for their occupation. In deciding what steps they are to take, councils must have regard to their assessments of the applicants’ cases. (Housing Act 1996, section 195).
11. The prevention duty will end 56 days after the Council accepted the duty (provided the applicant has not been served with a Notice Seeking Possession (NSP) in which case it will continue for as long as they remain in the property concerned). It will also end where the circumstances of applicant have changed (e.g. if the applicant becomes homeless or they have found accommodation.)

The relief duty

12. Under this duty councils must take reasonable steps to help to secure suitable accommodation for any eligible homeless person. When a council decides this duty has come to an end, it must notify the applicant in writing (Housing Act 1996, section 189B).

The main housing duty

13. If a council is satisfied an applicant is homeless, eligible for assistance, and has a priority need, the council has a duty to secure that accommodation is available for their occupation.

Review rights

14. Homeless applicants may request a review within 21 days of being notified of decisions about their eligibility for assistance. These include; what duty (if any) is owed to them if they are found to be homeless or threatened with homelessness; the steps they are to take in their personalised housing plan at the prevention or relief stages, and giving notice to bring either the council’s prevention or relief duty to an end. They also have a right of review to challenge the suitability of accommodation offered to the applicant after a homelessness duty has been accepted.

The Council’s Housing Allocations Policy

15. Section 20.10 of the Council’s policy sets out what priority will be given to someone who is homeless.
16. It states that while someone is considered to be ‘threatened with homelessness’ (and where the Council is likely to have a prevention duty towards them) they will qualify for 10 homelessness points and be eligible to join the housing register. These points will apply throughout the period they are owed a prevention duty.
17. Equally, once the Council accepts someone ‘is homeless’ and they are owed a relief duty, they will qualify for 10 priority points.
18. The priority allocated to an application is updated when circumstances change and if the Council accepts a main housing duty towards them.

What Happened

19. The information in this statement provides an overview of the key events most relevant to the complaint. It is not intended to set out everything that happened.
20. Ms X originally contacted the Council at the end of February 2024. At that time she had a tenancy with a Housing Association (HA). Ms X was in dispute with them regarding aspects of her tenancy and told the Council the HA was threatening repossession and acting unreasonably. She sought help from the Council under its duties to prevent homelessness and sought rehousing.
21. At the end of March Ms X completed a housing assistance form stating that her HA was harassing her and her relationship with the HA had broken down irretrievably. She stated she wished to transfer her current Band A Management Transfer from the HA to the Council. Ms X explained various concerns that she had about the behaviour of her HA.
22. Ms X’s HA served her with a Notice Seeking Possession in April 2024. During April the Council made enquiries to establish if Ms X was threatened with homelessness.
23. Ms X complained to the Council on 3 May 2024. She raised various points about her HA and asked the Council for clarity about various points associated with her application for housing.
24. The Council responded to her complaint on 20 May. It apologised there had been a delay in its enquiries into her case and that it had not yet accepted a prevention duty. The Council stated it would shortly confirm it had accepted a prevention duty, at which point Ms X would be eligible to join the Council’s housing register and she would be awarded 10 points. The Council clarified that it was assessing her application for housing under the Housing Act and homelessness legislation.
25. On 21 May I understand the Council sent Ms X a Personalised Housing Plan (PHP) but this was rejected by Ms X as it did not explain how she could access the housing register to bid for a new property. Ms X sought more confirmation from the Council on its position about detailed points she raised and about her housing application.
26. On 20 June the Council told Ms X it would contact the HA to obtain more information about the background to her case. It also signposted her to local advice groups who may be able to help. The Council briefly described its duties should it find Ms X was threatened with homelessness or found to be homeless. It told her that a housing officer would be making more enquiries on her case to help him decide how best to resolve her homelessness.
27. Following Ms X’s complaint, the Council issued a Personal Housing Plan (PHP) to her in July 2024. In it, the Council stated it was satisfied Ms X ‘was homeless and eligible for assistance’. The PHP provided general advice on finding accommodation. Based on what the Council told us, it did not send a formal decision letter to confirm it had accepted a homelessness prevention duty to Ms X.
28. On 10 July Ms X sought a review of a decision made by the Council on 20 June 2024. This was stated to be a decision not to allow her to join the housing register. She also complained about delay in assessing her application and transferring the bidding priority she had with her HA across. She explained that she believed she was entitled to transfer to the Council’s allocation scheme.
29. As part of her review request letter Ms X noted the Council had sent a PHP but not issued a prevention duty notification letter as it required to. Ms X’s letter also provided more details of the concerns she had about her HA and referenced older events that are not part of this investigation.
30. The Council acknowledged the review request on 16 July and responded on 23 August. The Council stated it had not made a reviewable decision and the letter of 20 June was a complaint response. It had explained the Council’s consideration of Ms X’s housing application was still ongoing. It stated, once decisions were made, Ms X would have right of review if she disagreed with the outcome. These rights of review were separate to the complaint process.
31. Since Ms X’s complaint to us I am aware that the Council issued a further Personalised Housing Plan (PHP) in November 2024. I understand it was to indicate the Council had accepted a relief duty towards Ms X. The Council stated if Ms X was still homeless on 10 January 2025 (56 days after the issue of this further PHP) the Council would consider if it owed her a main housing duty.
32. The Council allocated Ms X access to the housing register and allocated her 10 priority points in December. I understand the Council has since gone on to decide whether to accept a main housing duty to Ms X.

Was there fault by the Council

33. When Ms X originally contacted the Council she sought assistance with rehousing and referenced the Council’s homelessness duties. As there was reason to believe Ms X may be homeless or threatened with homelessness, the Council had a duty to make inquiries and decide what duty applied. So, the Council was not at fault for treating her application as a homelessness application and for considering what homelessness duties it had towards her.
34. Ms X’s HA did not seek to transfer her tenancy to the Council. It issued her with a Notice Seeking Possession (NSP). Ms X asked the Council to transfer the same level of housing priority she had with her HA to the Council’s housing scheme. The housing scheme operated by the HA and the Council’s housing allocations scheme are different. The Council is under no obligation to replicate decisions or priority levels granted by Ms X’s HA. Rather, if the Council determines someone is eligible to join its housing register, the Council should assess an application against its own housing allocations policy and award the priority that is relevant to the applicant’s circumstances. I have considered below the actions the Council took in doing this.
35. There was a delay in carrying out inquiries in Ms X’s case and in the Council deciding whether it owed her a prevention duty. It did not reach a decision on this until July 2024. This was fault.
36. There was further fault by the Council because it did not properly notify Ms X of its decision to accept a prevention duty towards her. Councils must provide clear written notification of its decisions. While the Council sent a Personalised Housing Plan (PHP), which it refers to as a Prevention PHP it was not sufficiently clear that this represented the Council’s decision to accept this duty.
37. The Council’s housing allocation policy states that, if a prevention duty is accepted, the applicant is entitled to join the housing register and receive 10 priority points. However, the Council did not provide these points or grant access to the housing register when it accepted a prevention duty. This was also fault. While this was frustrating for Ms X, I found it was unlikely that she missed out on placing successful bids for housing as a result of this.
38. Our investigation concerns the actions that Ms X raised as a complaint with the Council and brought to us at the start of August. So I have not investigated actions taken by the Council since August 2024.

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Action

39. Within four weeks of my final decision:
40. The Council should apologise to Ms X for the delay in processing her housing application and the failure to grant the appropriate homelessness points in a timely way. The apology should adhere to our guidance on making effective apologies. This can be found on our website, within our Guidance on Remedy here.
41. The Council should make a payment to Ms X of £100 to recognise the frustration caused by the delays, the failure to properly notify Ms X of its decisions and the delay in allocating her the correct priority points and housing register access.
42. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

43. I find fault causing injustice that warrants a remedy.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman