Summary

Ms X and her family were homeless. She complains the Council placed her in unsuitable temporary accommodation which had no cold water supply in the kitchen and other defects.

The complaint

Mrs X complained the Council placed her in unsuitable accommodation, and failed to review the suitability of the accommodation properly.

Decision

The Ombudsman upheld the complaint and found fault causing injustice.

Recommendations

To remedy the complaint, the council has agreed to:

• send Ms X a letter of apology (from the Council’s Head of Service);
• pay Ms X £300 a month for 10 months from October 2016 to August 2017;
• pay an additional £20 a week to reimburse her for the bottled water she bought from 19 October 2016 until 31 August 2017;
• pay an additional £15 a week for the extra expense of using laundry facilities outside the flat for the same period;
• tell us what steps it has taken to ensure that any other homeless families placed in the block do not experience similar problems to Ms X;
• put robust systems in place to log and track the progress of review requests to ensure compliance with the eight-week timescale;
• remind officers of the requirement to issue a written decision on every review request

Ombudsman satisfied with Council response: 17 May 2018

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