Summary: The Council was at fault for how it handled Ms X’s homelessness application. The Council did not secure temporary accommodation until the day she was evicted then offered her temporary accommodation which was unsuitable for her household. This caused distress and meant Ms X and her family had to live in unsuitable accommodation. To remedy the injustice caused the Council agreed to apologise and make payments to Ms X for the time spent in unsuitable accommodation and for the distress caused by her eviction.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council:
• Mishandled her eviction from private rented accommodation and did not provide accommodation before she received a bailiff’s warrant of eviction.
• Offered her unsuitable temporary accommodation which was in a poor state of repair.

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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 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)
3. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), 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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What I have and have not investigated

5. I have not investigated matters since the Council made Ms X an offer of new temporary accommodation in November 2025. This is because Ms X has a right of review to challenge the suitability of this accommodation if she considers it is not suitable.

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How I considered this complaint

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

Law and guidance

8. 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.
9. If a council is satisfied an applicant is unintentionally homeless, eligible for assistance, and has a priority need, it has a duty to secure that accommodation is available for their occupation. This is called the main housing duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 193 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 15.39)
10. The accommodation a council provides until it can end the main housing duty is called temporary accommodation. Anyone who believes their temporary accommodation is unsuitable has a statutory right to ask the Council to review the accommodation’s suitability within 21 days of being notified of the decision. (Housing Act 1996, section 202).
11. The Secretary of State considers that it is highly unlikely to be reasonable for someone to continue to occupy a property beyond the date the court has ordered them to leave and give possession to the landlord. A council should not consider it reasonable for someone to remain in occupation of their property up until the point at which a court issues a warrant or writ to enforce an order for possession. Council’s should ensure that homeless families and vulnerable individuals who are owed a section 193(2) main housing duty are not evicted through the enforcement of an order for possession as a result of a failure by the authority to make suitable accommodation available to them. (Homelessness Code of Guidance 6.36-6.38)

What happened

12. Ms X lived in private rented accommodation with her two children who are neurodivergent. She had approached the Council for homelessness assistance as her landlord wanted to evict her from her property. The Council decided to owe Ms X the main housing duty, however Ms X continued to live in her private rented accommodation.
13. In Mid-February 2025, Ms X’s landlord obtained a bailiff’s warrant of eviction from the courts. This gave her a date in mid-March 2025 where she had to leave the property. Ms X brought the bailiff’s warrant to the Council. The Council told Ms X she had to wait until her eviction date and then it would look for accommodation for her based on availability at the time. Ms X contacted the Council about this explaining how anxious she was at having to wait for the bailiff’s to evict her and asked the Council to offer her accommodation sooner.
14. In mid-March 2025, the Council provided Ms X with temporary accommodation. This was a one bedroom property. After visiting the property Ms X reported to the Council several issues with the condition of the property. These included, mould, broken sockets on the walls, insect infestation and the property being very dirty. Ms X also said the Council told her it would provide two single beds for her children but had not done so.
15. At the end of March 2025, Ms X complained to the Council that it had not resolved the issues she raised about the temporary accommodation it offered.
16. In late April 2025, the Council responded to Ms X’s complaint. The Council said this was the only available property for Ms X as she was being evicted. The Council explained it had brought her concerns about the condition of the property to its emergency accommodation team leader. The Council also said it would prioritise her for a move as soon as it could source a suitable property.
17. Ms X asked the Council to consider her complaint further. Ms X said there was not an acceptable reason why it had taken this long to look into her complaints about the condition of the property. Ms X said her children could not live at the property and had been staying elsewhere. Ms X also raised concerns about why she had to wait so long for accommodation despite the Council owing her the main housing duty.
18. In early June 2026, the Council provided its final response to Ms X’s complaint. The Council said it was working with the accommodation provider to resolve the repair issues. The Council apologised for the delay dealing with the repair issues and the distress this caused. The Council offered Ms X £300 to recognise this.
19. In late June 2025, Ms X asked the Council to review the suitability of the temporary accommodation it provided her with in March 2025.
20. The Council completed its review in late August 2025 and wrote to Ms X to tell her it found the accommodation was unsuitable. The letter the Council sent to Ms X did not list any reasons why the Council decided the accommodation was unsuitable, however the case notes provided by the Council showed the Council found the property was unsuitable as Ms X’s family were statutorily overcrowded it in.
21. In mid-November 2025, the Council offered Ms X new temporary accommodation.

Analysis

Ms X’s eviction from her private rented accommodation

22. The Council was aware long before Ms X was evicted that her landlord intended to remove her from the property. That was why it decided it owed her the main housing duty.
23. In Mid-February 2025, Ms X provided the Council with a bailiff’s warrant of eviction but it told her she would have to remain in the property until this was enforced. This was fault.
24. In such circumstances, it should have taken timely steps to secure accommodation before the eviction date. Instead, it only arranged accommodation for the day of eviction. This was contrary to the approach set out in statutory guidance.
25. This fault caused injustice. It left Ms X and her family facing an avoidable crisis at the point of being evicted. This caused distress and uncertainty about whether they would have accommodation, and where they would be placed, until the last moment. Ms X also said she has incurred court costs as a result of her landlord having to go through this procedure to evict her.

Normally where we have found fault in a case like this we would recommend service improvements for the Council. However in another recent case, the Council produced an action plan setting out how it would improve its homelessness services. Part of this involved changes to securing and maintaining temporary accommodation. The Council said its service managers and team leaders now have active oversight over the available temporary accommodation. In light of this I decided not to make a service improvement recommendation about the Council’s allocation of temporary accommodation and instead give the Council the opportunity to improve its service following the measures it has already taken.

Suitability of temporary accommodation offered in March 2025

26. When the Council provided Ms X with temporary accommodation in March 2025, Ms X reported several issues about the condition of the property. It was not clear whether these issues were ever resolved. The case notes provided by the Council showed that it logged the issues but there is no record that they were actually dealt with. This was fault.
27. In addition, the Council found the property was unsuitable in August 2025 after it carried out a suitability review. The notes showing the Council’s decision making showed the Council believed this properly was statutorily overcrowded for Ms X and her family. As a result I can say on balance that this property was never suitable for Ms X and her family and she should not have been offered this. Had the Council not waited until Ms X was being evicted to find her accommodation, it may have been able to source something suitable.
28. This fault has cased Ms X injustice as she ended up living in accommodation which was unsuitable for her family from March to November 2025.
29. Where we find someone has spent time in unsuitable accommodation our guidance on remedies recommends a monthly symbolic payment. When coming to a suitable figure I considered that Ms X and her family were overcrowded, that there was no records of the repair issues Ms X raised about the accommodation being resolved and that she and her children had health conditions.

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Agreed Action

30. Within one month of my final decision the Council agreed to carry out the following:
• Apologise to Ms X for the injustice caused by the above faults.
• Pay Ms X £300 to acknowledge the distress and uncertainty caused by the circumstances of her eviction.
• Reimburse the court costs Ms X paid from her eviction. Ms X should provide the Council with evidence she has paid these costs so it can reimburse her.
• Pay Ms X £2,800 for the time she spent in unsuitable temporary accommodation. I have calculated this at £350 per month for eight months.
31. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

32. I find fault causing injustice. The Council agreed to the above actions to remedy the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman