Summary: Miss Y complained about the Council’s handling of her homelessness and housing register applications. We have found fault, causing injustice, by the Council in its failures to: properly process and determine her homelessness and housing register applications; consider the interim accommodation duty; and its complaint handling. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice by: apologising, making a payment to recognise the upset caused; determining Miss Y’s applications; and making a service improvement.

The complaint

1. Miss Y complains about the Council’s handling of her homelessness and housing register applications. She says:
1. she told it in August 2024, she could not continue to live in her current social housing accommodation because of its impact on her child’s serious medical condition. They needed an additional bedroom, and her child’s health was also affected by the disrepair, damp and mould at the property; but
2. the Council failed to properly process and determine her homelessness and housing applications.
2. Because of the Council’s failures and delays, she and her family continue to live in unsuitable accommodation, impacting her child’s health. Her child has been hospitalised several times during this period. The situation is causing her extreme worry and stress.
3. She wants the Council to process and determine her applications urgently and provide her with suitable accommodation.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these.
5. 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)
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(1), as amended)

Back to top

What I have and have not investigated

7. I have investigated what happened from August 2024, when Miss Y first asked the Council for housing and homelessness assistance, until December 2025, when the Council issued its response to her complaint, after she had brought it to us in August 2025.
8. I have not investigated any complaint about events from January 2026, because these are not part of the complaint the Council responded to in December 2025.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

9. I considered evidence provided by Miss Y and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
10. Miss Y and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

What should have happened

Homelessness – the law

11. Councils’ powers and duties to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness are set out in Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities.
12. Someone is homeless if they have no accommodation or if they have accommodation, but it is not reasonable for them and anyone who lives with them to continue to live there. (Housing Act 1996, Section 175)

The relief duty

13. 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

14. If a council is satisfied an applicant is homeless, eligible for assistance, and has a priority need the council has a duty to make accommodation available. (Housing Act 1996, section 193 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 15.39)
15. A person with dependent children is an applicant in priority need.

Interim and temporary accommodation

16. 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)
17. 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. The accommodation a council provides until it can end this duty is called temporary accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 193)
18. 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 and temporary accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.2)

Housing allocations

19. 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))

The Council’s allocations scheme

20. The Council’s published scheme says:
1. Following an assessment of their housing needs, it will place an applicant in one of the following priority bands:

• Band 1 -urgent - the criteria for which includes: severe health/disability related housing need; unsanitary or unsatisfactory accommodation which poses an ongoing and serious threat to health; overcrowding that poses a serious health hazard.
• Band 2 – additional preference priority
• Band 3 – medium priority - the criteria for which includes: homeless applicants to whom the Council owes a housing duty; overcrowding; heath related grounds (medical); welfare.
2. All applicants have the right to a statutory review of any decision the Council makes about their housing

The Council’s complaints process

21. The Council has a two-stage procedure for dealing with complaints:

• Stage 1: the service team responsible will acknowledge the complaint within 5 working days and send a full response within 20 working days of receipt;
• Stage 2: if the complainant is unhappy with the stage 1 response, they can ask for a Stage 2 review. The corporate resolution team will complete an independent investigation and reply within 20 working days.

What happened

22. I have set out a summary of the key events below. It is not meant to show everything that happened. It is based on my review of all the evidence provided about this complaint.

August 2024: Miss Y’s homelessness and housing register applications

23. Miss Y is a housing association tenant living with her two children in a two-bedroom property. One child has a serious medical condition.
24. In August 2024 Miss Y applied to join the Council’s housing register. She also asked for homelessness assistance. She told it she needed to move because of the impact of the current accommodation on her child’s health. They needed a three-bedroom property because of her child’s medical condition. And the disrepair at their current home, including extensive damp and mould, was adversely affecting the child’s health.
25. Miss Y provided medical evidence supporting her application. This included a hospital letter confirming details of the child’s serious medical condition, the impact of the current accommodation on their health and the need for a three-bedroom property.

October 2024: Environmental Health home visit

26. A member of the Council’s Environmental Health team visited Miss Y’s home to assess its condition. They noted damp and mould in the kitchen and bathroom.
27. They contacted the housing association, as Miss Y’s landlord, and asked it to investigate and carry out any necessary repairs. The housing association said it had instructed a contractor to do this.

November to December 2024: Miss Y’s contact with the homelessness team

28. Miss Y contacted the Council on 22 November. She said she had completed a homelessness application in October but not yet had her assessment appointment.
29. She chased this again with the Council on 27 November and 4 December.
30. On 5 December an officer completed an assessment interview with Miss Y. The Council’s case note says:

• it had conducted the interview to take a homelessness application;
• it had discussed the relief duty and advised that 56 days would expire on 30 January 2025;
• Miss Y’s child had a serious chronic medical condition and had medical equipment at home for daily treatment;
• an Environmental Health officer carried out an inspection in October;
• Miss Y said their current accommodation was not big enough as they needed three bedrooms. And there was damp and mould all over the property;
• it told Miss Y it would need to obtain the Environmental Health report and contact her landlord for further information; and
• it would confirm the position once it had this additional information.

December 2024: Miss Y’s complaint to the Council

31. Miss Y heard nothing further and complained to the Council about its delay dealing with her applications.
32. The Council issued a stage 1 response on 6 December. It apologised for the delay but said, due to the high number of applications, the average waiting time for an initial assessment was currently two months. As her application had now been allocated it considered her complaint was now resolved.

January 2025: further contact about Miss Y’s homelessness application

33. Miss Y chased the Council for an update on her application. She was told it was looking into the situation and would come back to her.
34. The Council had some contact with the housing association about the status of her tenancy and who was responsible for moving her to suitable accommodation.
35. On 16 January the Council noted:

• it had not issued any relief duty or PHP. It was waiting for the Environmental Health report because Miss Y had said there was damp and mould at the property. It had asked Environmental Health for this, but it had not yet been received; and
• Miss Y had also said her current two-bedroom accommodation was unsuitable because her child’s medical condition meant they needed a three-bedroom property.

February to March 2025: contact about the housing register application

36. On 27 February a service manager told the housing team to process Miss Y’s housing register application.
37. Miss Y contacted the Council on 21 March about her application. She said:

• her child had been in hospital for six weeks. The current living situation was seriously impacting their wellbeing;
• she had initiated legal action against the housing association regarding the serious disrepair. But she felt the Council’s reasons for not rehousing them were not sufficient or fully considered; and
• she would obtain further medical and other evidence to substantiate her case. She asked it to review her application again urgently.

38. The Council said in its reply of 24 March:

• its initial assessment, based on her application form, was that she had not reached the minimum threshold of housing need for the waiting list; but
• as she had completed the health-related housing need section of the form, her application had been forwarded for further assessment. The housing register team would contact her with the final outcome.

April to May 2025: Miss Y’s further complaint

39. In April Miss Y complained again about the Council’s failure to deal with her housing register application or communicate with her.
40. She did not receive any response, and her MP contacted the Council about her complaint. They said Miss Y had provided hospital documents supporting the urgent need for three-bedroom accommodation because of her child’s health issues but had not had any response to this or her December 2024 complaint.
41. The Council replied to Miss Y’s MP in May 2025. It said it understood Miss Y was currently being assessed by its homelessness team. They were making their enquiries as quickly as possible and would notify Miss Y of the outcome. It also provided the complaint response issued in December 2024.

August 2025: Miss Y’s complaint to us

42. Miss Y asked us to investigate her complaint about the Council.
43. We explained the Council would have to complete its complaints procedure before we could consider her complaint. We asked the Council to do this.

September 2025: The Council’s contact with Miss Y

44. In September the Council spoke to Miss Y about her concerns. Its case note says they discussed:

• the status of Miss Y’s tenancy with the housing association and the ownership of the building;
• the disrepair at her current accommodation. It was being affected by water penetration from above. Her walls were retaining moisture with water marks showing, mushrooms growing close to the ceiling, and visible signs of damp and mould in form of blackening in form of spots on the wall and ceiling. This had been an ongoing issue for some time;
• she had complained to her landlord and the Housing Ombudsman Service about the disrepair. She was now taking legal action against the landlord;
• the Council’s Environmental Health team had carried out an inspection in response to her reports of disrepair but had not taken any action since then; and
• it told Miss Y it would need to investigate the information she had provided.

45. The homelessness team asked the Environmental Health team for information about its inspection of Miss Y’s home. It said it needed to establish whether it was unreasonable for her to continue occupying the accommodation. If it was, she would be considered homeless.
46. The Council also made further enquiries of the housing association. It established Miss Y had secured the tenancy for the property through the Council’s housing register.

October 2025: contact with the Environmental Health team

47. Miss Y contacted the Council again on 12 October. She said there had been no progress with it or the housing association. She wanted to know who was responsible for re-housing her and her children.
48. A service manager told the Environmental Health team:

• Miss Y had made a homelessness and housing register application;
• the homelessness application was on the basis it was unreasonable for the family to continue to occupy the accommodation because its condition was affecting her child’s health;
• Environmental Health visited their home in October 2024 and found damp and mould in kitchen and bathroom; and
• the housing register application was pending the outcome of the property disrepair report and completion of the homelessness assessment.

49. The Environmental Health team confirmed it had inspected the accommodation and noted the presence of damp and mould. It was likely the cause was water penetration from the flat above. The housing association had told it in October 2024 it would instruct a contractor to investigate.

November to December 2025:

50. Miss Y contacted the Council again in November. She said she had still not received any response to her urgent request for re-housing. The accommodation was riddled with damp and there was an active leak.
51. On 17 November the homelessness team made a note it needed to consider whether Miss Y’s current circumstances met the threshold of being unreasonable for her to continue to occupy the property. It asked Environmental Health to advise whether the accommodation was statutorily overcrowded and about the impact of the space and overcrowding on the children. I have not been provided with any evidence of Environmental Health’s response.
52. On 8 December the Council asked its medical adviser for an opinion about the impact of Miss Y’s current housing conditions and the family’s housing need. I have not been provided with this advice.
53. The housing register team spoke to Miss Y on 8 December, its case note says

• it told her about the implications of continuing with a homelessness application. This was not her preference;
• the housing association appeared to have provided misleading information initially about the status of her tenancy (that it was only temporary). It would contact the housing association directly now to establish what action it was taking; and
• Miss Y would then be able to make a fully informed decision about how she wanted to proceed.

December 2025: The Council’s stage 1 complaint response

54. The Council said it was replying to Miss Y’s complaints about its failure to respond to her urgent housing needs and repeated request for medical information she had already submitted. It said it:

• allocated her homelessness application in October 2024, and then re-allocated to another officer in September 2025;
• was making ongoing enquiries to determine whether her circumstances met the criteria of “unreasonable to continue to occupy”. It acknowledged it had not yet made a decision on whether a duty was owed;
• accepted it had received the medical information she had previously submitted. It had been asked for again due to an internal oversight;
• had made a referral to its medical adviser in November 2025 for advice on the suitability of her current accommodation. This advice had been received and would be considered as part of the ongoing homelessness assessment; and
• had referred her concerns about the leaks, damp and mould to the Environmental Health team. They might liaise with her and the landlord to investigate and resolve these issues.

55. In conclusion the Council said:

• it upheld her complaint and apologised for the delay reaching a decision on her homelessness application;
• it recognised the inconvenience caused by repeated request for medical evidence already held and apologised for this error;
• the homelessness team would contact her by 9 December 2025 to confirm the next steps in her homelessness application; and
• the housing register team would contact her to discuss her housing register application.

Events from January 2026: homelessness assessment interview

56. The homelessness team completed an assessment interview with Miss Y on 14 January. The case note says:

• Miss Y’s accommodation was impacted by disrepair. She was engaged in litigation with her landlord about this;
• her child has a serious medical condition. They are under the care of a hospital consultant and require their own room and additional space to store the medical equipment. Their medical care team delivers their treatment in the home. The child also has a learning disability and other care and support needs;
• the airborne spores from the damp and mould were affecting the child’s health. The hospital consultant and other medical specialists described the property as unsuitable for the child and that they may be at risk of serious harm from a continued stay at accommodation. The child’s medical equipment takes up more space than a single room;
• Miss Y is concerned about the impact and risk of serious harm of moving her sick child into temporary accommodation. She would prefer to stay at their current accommodation and be treated as homeless from home;
• she wants an offer of three-bedroom long-term accommodation. She has already made a housing register application; and
• the independent medical adviser had advised the accommodation was unreasonable to continue to occupy.

The relief duty

57. On 26 January 2026 the Council notified Miss Y it had accepted it owed her the relief duty.

July 2026: Current position

58. As at the date of this decision my understanding is the Council has not yet determined Miss Y’s homelessness or housing register applications or taken any action to move the family to suitable accommodation.

My decision – was there fault by the Council causing injustice?

59. My view is there were serious delays and failures by the Council in its handling of Miss Y’s homelessness and housing register applications from August 2024 to December 2025.
60. I have set out below details of the most significant failures.

Miss Y’s homelessness application

61. In my view it was clear from Miss Y’s first contact in August 2024 she was asking for homelessness assistance because it was unreasonable to continue living in her current accommodation due to the impact on her child’s health and serious medical condition.
62. But in addition to its initial delays responding to Miss Y’s request for homelessness assistance, the Council failed to take any substantive action to progress her application from December 2024 until after we had contacted it about her complaint.
63. This includes the Council’s failures to:

• carry out a homelessness assessment until December 2024 - a delay of four months;
• take any action, following the assessment interview, to progress Miss Y’s application. It knew about Environmental Health’s involvement in October 2024 but there is no evidence it took any action to establish the extent of the disrepair;
• consider whether it was unreasonable for Miss Y to continue to occupy the accommodation because of the medical need for a third bedroom for her child. Miss Y had provided medical information supporting this need at the outset. I have not seen any evidence the Council considered this issue;
• obtain any opinion on the child’s medical needs from its medical adviser until November 2025. Although I have not seen this opinion, I understand they advised in November 2025, it was unreasonable for Miss Y to continue to occupy her accommodation. Miss Y had provided the Council with medical and other information about the disrepair, the need for the third bedroom and the impact of the current accommodation on the child in 2024; and
• complete its enquiries and determine Miss Y’s application. The Council only accepted the relief duty in January 2026 – nearly 18 months after Miss Y first approached it for homelessness assistance. My understanding is, at the date of this decision, the Council has still not decided whether to accept the main housing duty.

64. The Council’s failure to properly process and determine Miss Y’s homelessness application is fault.
65. I will consider the impact of this fault below.

Interim accommodation duty

66. The law says a council must secure accommodation for an applicant if it has reason to believe they may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need.
67. I have not seen any evidence the Council considered, before January 2026, whether it had a duty to provide Miss Y with interim accommodation. This failure was fault.
68. I will consider the impact of this fault below.

Miss Y’s housing register application

69. It was clear from Miss Y’s application to join the housing register she was asking to move on medical grounds because of the impact of the lack of bedrooms and the disrepair on her child’s health and medical condition.
70. My view is the Council failed to take proper action to progress and determine Miss Y’s housing register application. I say this because:

• I have not been provided with evidence of any action taken by the Council to process Miss Y's application when it was submitted in August 2024;
• I have not been provided with any evidence it took any substantive action to process her application in response to the management direction to do so in February 2025;
• I have not seen any evidence showing the Council asked its medical adviser for their opinion on the medical information Miss Y provided at the outset, and the family’s housing need with regard to the housing register application;
• the Council told Miss Y in March 2025 its initial assessment was that she had not reached the minimum threshold of housing need for the waiting list. But I have not been provided with any records or evidence showing when or how it made this assessment, or that it notified Miss Y of its decision with its reasons, and about her right to request a review of this decision;
• it also said in March 2025, as she had completed the health-related housing need section of the form, her application had been forwarded for further assessment and it would contact her with the final outcome. This contradicts the Council’s statement that based on the application form – which included the medical information – it had assessed she did not have a housing need;
• I have not seen any evidence the Council completed the further assessment or notified Miss Y of any outcome; and
• it has still not determined Miss Y’s application nearly two years after she asked to join the housing register. Our expectation is a council should determine a request to join its housing register within eight weeks of receipt of the completed application.

71. The Council’s failure to properly process and determine Miss Y’s housing register application is fault.
72. I will consider the impact of this fault below.

The Council’s complaint handling

73. There have been significant delays and failures in the Council’s handling of Miss Y’s complaints.
74. Following her first complaint in 2024, Miss Y, and her MP, repeatedly raised their concerns throughout 2025 about the Council’s failure to progress her request for urgent assistance with her housing situation.
75. We asked the Council to respond to her complaint in September 2025. But it did not issue its stage 1 complaint response until December 2025, well outside of its own service standard of 20 working days and our expectations on timescales.
76. And although the Council upheld Miss Y’s complaint and apologised for its delays, it failed to follow up on its assurances to progress her homelessness and housing register applications.
77. The Council’s failure to respond to Miss Y’s complaint in a timely way or take any meaningful action to resolve her concerns is fault.
78. I will consider the impact of this fault below.

Impact of the Council’s faults

79. I have found the following faults by the Council:
1. failure to properly process and determine Miss Y’s homelessness application;
2. failure to properly process and determine Miss Y’s housing register application;
3. failure to consider whether it had a duty to provide Miss Y with interim accommodation; and
4. complaint handling failures
80. My view about the impact of these faults is:
1. Failure to properly process and determine Miss Y’s homelessness application:

• had it processed the application properly and in a timely way I consider it is more likely it would have accepted the relief duty much sooner – allowing Miss Y to join the housing register in Band 3, as a homeless applicant to whom the Council owed a housing duty;
• the information the Council has provided about waiting times indicates that as at October 2024, there were over 500 applicants in Bands 1 &2 for three-bedroom properties and that only 210 properties became available during the period from 2024 to 2026;
• I can’t say the Council’s failure to determine Miss Y’s homelessness application caused her to miss out on an offer of permanent housing. But the delays and failures over nearly two years, at a very difficult and stressful time for the family, have caused Miss Y significant upset and uncertainty about the outcome of her application;
• I have considered the impact of the failures on the provision of interim or temporary accommodation at c) below.
2. Failure to properly process and determine Miss Y’s housing application:
• had the Council processed Miss Y’s application in a timely way, given all the information Miss Y provided at the outset about her housing situation, I consider it is more likely it would accepted her application to join the housing register within eight weeks – by the start of November 2024;
• at this stage, because the Council has not yet issued its decision about Miss Y’s priority band, I can’t say whether the delays have caused her to miss out on a suitable property;
• but, at the very least, because of its failures, Miss Y has lost the opportunity to bid for suitable properties from November 2024, causing her upset, frustration and uncertainty as to whether she missed out on a suitable property.
3. Failure to consider whether it had a duty to provide Miss Y with interim accommodation:
• given all the information Miss Y provided at the outset about her circumstances, her child's medical condition and the impact of the current accommodation, my view is that had the Council properly considered this duty in 2024, it is more likely it would have decided it had a duty to provide her with interim accommodation;
• Miss Y has expressed concern about the impact of a move to short-term accommodation on her child’s health. I can’t say whether Miss Y would have accepted an offer of interim accommodation; but
• because of the failure to offer interim accommodation and discuss the options with her, Miss Y lost the opportunity to make an informed decision about a move to suitable interim accommodation. This has caused Miss Y upset and uncertainty about this missed opportunity.
4. Complaint handling failures:
• the delays and failures to respond to her concerns caused Miss Y frustration, upset and uncertainty about what was happening and the outcome of her complaints; and
• the failure to follow through on the assurances made in its complaint responses caused Miss Y further frustration and upset.

81. I have considered the effect of each of the above failures on Miss Y and her children, the length of time involved, and the concerns and difficulties related to the impact of the accommodation on the child’s health. My view is a significant payment to reflect the extent of the distress caused is appropriate here.

Conclusion

82. Based on what I’ve seen, my view is there has been a complete breakdown in the Council’s response to Miss Y’s homelessness and housing register applications.
83. It knew early on about the delays and failures but failed to ensure there was any proper management oversight or liaison between the homelessness and housing register teams, and Environmental Health. Its repeated promises to progress the applications were not kept.
84. The result is that nearly two years after Miss Y asked for urgent assistance with her housing situation, she and her children, one of whom has a serious health condition, she is still waiting for a decision about a move to suitable accommodation.

Action

85. To remedy the injustice caused by the above faults, and within four weeks from the date of our final decision, the Council has agreed to:
1. apologise to Miss Y for the failures to properly process and determine her homelessness and housing register applications; its failure to consider the interim accommodation duty; its complaint handling failures, and the upset these caused. This apology should be in line with our guidance on Making an effective apology
2. pay Miss Y £1,000 to recognise the worry, upset and uncertainty caused by these failures. This is a symbolic payment based on our guidance on remedies
3. complete its assessment of Miss Y’s homelessness application and make a decision on the main housing duty, and its duty to provide temporary accommodation;
4. complete its assessment of Miss Y’s housing register application; issue its decision and notify Miss Y of her right to request a review of the decision. Any priority band award should be effective from the start of November 2024, the date by which the Council should have completed the assessment;
5. arrange for a senior manager to contact Miss Y about her options for rehousing so she can make an informed decision about this.
86. And within two months from the date of our final decision, the Council has agreed to:
1. arrange for a senior housing services manager to conduct a review into the reasons for the failures identified in this decision; and
2. develop an action plan to address the causes.
87. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Decision

88. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed to take the above action to remedy this injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman