Summary: Mrs X complained the Council kept her family in unsuitable bed and breakfast accommodation for seven months and wrongly told her that housing benefit would cover the full cost of the accommodation. Mrs X and her family were in unsuitable accommodation for 18 weeks longer than the law allows causing distress. However, there is no evidence Mrs X was told there would be no charge for this accommodation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council kept her family in unsuitable bed and breakfast accommodation for seven months and wrongly told her that housing benefit would cover the full cost of this accommodation
2. Mrs X says this has caused distress and affected her mental health.

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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. 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(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Mrs X 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

Duty to arrange interim accommodation (section 188)

7. A council must secure interim accommodation for an applicant and their household if it has reason to believe the applicant may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need. (Housing Act 1996, section 188)

Suitability of accommodation

8. 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. This duty applies to interim accommodation and accommodation provided under the main housing duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.2)
9. Wherever possible, Councils should avoid using bed and breakfast accommodation. (Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraph 17.33). Bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation can only be used for households which include a pregnant woman or dependent child when no other accommodation is available and then for no more than six weeks. B&B is accommodation which is not self-contained, not owned by the council or a registered provider of social housing and where the toilet, washing, or cooking facilities are shared with other households. (Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2003 and Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraph 17.35)

Key facts

10. Mrs X’s landlord decided to sell the property she was living in and so Mrs X, her husband and five daughters, presented as homeless to the Council. In February 2023, it accepted the prevention duty.
11. Mrs X’s family remained in the privately rented property until September 2023 when a warrant for their eviction was served. The Council provided the family with accommodation at a local hotel from 26 September 2023. Mrs X was advised that she needed to continue to search for suitable accommodation and that it would also try to secure more suitable accommodation for the family.
12. In March 2024, the family moved from the hotel into privately rented temporary accommodation. At around this time, Mrs X learnt that there were arrears of over £4,000 owing for the rent charges at the hotel accommodation.
13. Mrs X made a formal complaint to the Council saying her housing officer had repeatedly told her there would be no charge while living at the hotel but that when they moved into other accommodation there would be. The complaint letter indicated that Mrs X was aware that her eldest daughter would be expected to contribute to the rent but says she was told this would not apply to any hotel accommodation. Mrs X says that this was the first time she was made aware of the debt.
14. The Council responded saying it was satisfied Mrs X had been told there would be charges for the hotel accommodation. It also confirmed they had been told a housing benefit claim would be made on their behalf and then they would be contacted to complete the housing benefit claim form. It acknowledged there was a delay in assessing the housing benefit claim for the hotel accommodation. It said Mrs X would need to use her rights of appeal if she disagreed with the amount of housing benefit awarded. It said the delay in assessing the claim had not affected the amount of benefit awarded.

Analysis

15. Mrs X and her family moved into interim accommodation on 26 September 2023 after their landlord decided to sell the property they privately rented. The Council says that the only available accommodation was a hotel. While the family had access to a private bathroom there were no cooking facilities. The family remained in hotel accommodation until 22 March 2024.
16. As explained at paragraph nine above, councils should avoid using bed and breakfast accommodation but where this is the only available accommodation it should be for a maximum of six weeks. Mrs X and her family were in the hotel accommodation for 24 weeks. Placing the family in this type of accommodation for so long is fault even if the Council used its best endeavours to find something else. I have recommended a payment to recognise the distress caused by this fault.
17. Mrs X says she was told there would be no charge for the hotel accommodation. I have not seen any evidence to support this but I have also not seen any evidence to indicate Mrs X was notified of the charges for the hotel accommodation until after she left the hotel. As no bills were sent to Mrs X for the unpaid charges, I can understand why she believed she would not have to pay for the hotel accommodation.
18. All the information I have seen indicates the Council told Mrs X it would assist her in making a housing benefit claim for the hotel accommodation. The process appears to be that the homelessness officers submits the form to the Council’s housing benefit department and then it contacts the applicant for the relevant details. In this case, the housing benefit claim was not submitted at the time Mrs X moved to the hotel in September 2023. The Council did not submit the claim until a year later, in September 2024.
19. The Council accepts the delay in submitting the claim. However, the application was determined and backdated. I am therefore not persuaded the amount of benefit awarded was affected by the delay. Mrs X’s daughter works and so is required to make a contribution towards the rent, known as a non-dependent deduction. This non-dependent deduction is applied regardless of the type of accommodation a person is living in. If Mrs X believed the amount of benefit awarded was incorrect, then she could have used her right of appeal to a Tribunal to challenge this. It is not the Ombudsman’s role to determine how much housing benefit someone is entitled to. There is nothing to suggest Mrs X used this right of appeal.
20. As a result of the Council’s delay in submitting the housing benefit claim, Mrs X accumulated a large amount of arrears. I can understand that this was distressing. It was part of Mrs X’s homelessness plan that both the Council and herself would search for appropriate accommodation. Mrs X says that it is unfair to charge them so much money for the unsuitable hotel accommodation and that she would not have stayed there if she had been aware she had to pay for it. I appreciate this point of view, but the accommodation was always unsuitable for this family, regardless of the amount charged. I am not persuaded that knowing about the amount she would be charged significantly changed the actions taken in this case. If alternative accommodation had been identified sooner then the family would have moved and I can only assume that both the family and the Council were doing their best to source more suitable accommodation.

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Agreed action

21. To remedy the injustice caused as a result of the fault identified above the Council will, within one month of my final decision, take the following action:
• Apologise to Mrs X for the fault identified. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Make Mrs X a payment of £3,600 to recognise they were left in unsuitable bed and breakfast accommodation for 18 weeks longer than the law allows;
• Make Mrs X a payment of £200 to recognise the distress caused as a result of the delay in notifying her of the charges for the hotel accommodation; and
• Remind staff of the importance of ensuring housing benefit claims for homeless accommodation are made in a timely manner.
22. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

23. I have completed my investigation with a finding of fault for the reasons explained in this statement. The Council has agreed to implement the actions I have recommended. These appropriately remedy any injustice caused by fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman