Summary: Miss X complained about the way the Council handled her homelessness and housing applications, and about its failure to carry out repairs after a leak in her temporary accommodation. The Council was not at fault.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council gave her misleading information about her homelessness application and failed to respond to requests for help with private renting. She says the Council failed to take appropriate action when there was a leak in her temporary accommodation. She says the Council unreasonably refused to include her older daughter on her housing application and has not allowed her to bid for properties. As a result, she says she is sleeping on the sofa at a relative’s, with her young daughter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the council knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the council of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))
3. In this case, Miss X was homeless and sofa surfing with a young daughter. In view of the urgency of her situation, we decided to consider her complaint without requiring her to go through the Council’s corporate complaints process first.

Homelessness decision

4. Where a council decides it does not owe an applicant a homelessness duty, the applicant has the right to ask the council to review that decision and there is a right of apply to the county court if they’re unhappy with it. Where an applicant has a right of review we would usually expect them to exercise this. We would only investigate where it was unreasonable to expect them to use that right.
5. In this case, the Council decided in May 2019 that Miss X was homeless, eligible for assistance and in priority need. It decided she was intentionally homeless and therefore it did not have a duty to accommodate her. Miss X’s legal adviser requested a review. The Council carried out a review and wrote to the legal adviser in July 2019 to explain why it considered the decision was correct.
6. I will not consider whether the Council made the correct decision since Miss X had the right to a review and has exercised that right. She can now exercise her right of appeal to the county court if she wishes to do so.

General powers

7. 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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
8. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
9. If we are satisfied with a council’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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How I considered this complaint

10. I spoke to Miss X and considered the information she provided.
11. I considered the Council’s replies to my enquiries, including its daily records for the case to mid July 2019 when the review decision was sent.
12. I considered relevant law and guidance, as set out below.
13. I gave the Council and Miss X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

14. 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.
15. When a person applies to a council for accommodation and the council has reason to believe they may be homeless or threatened with homelessness, a number of duties arise, including:
• to make enquiries to establish if the council has a duty to assist them;
• to secure suitable accommodation for certain applicants pending the outcome of the enquiries;
• to notify the applicant of it’s decision in writing and the right to request a review of the decision.
16. Councils should work with applicants to identify practical and reasonable steps for the council and the applicant to take to help the applicant keep or secure suitable accommodation. These steps should be tailored to the household, and follow from the findings of the assessment, and must be provided to the applicant in writing as their personalised housing plan (PHP). (Housing Act 1996, section 189A and Homelessness Code of Guidance chapter 11)
17. If the Council thinks someone is homeless and in priority need, it must, if the person asks for it, provide emergency accommodation until it has finished assessing the homelessness application.  Examples of priority need are:
• people with dependent children;
• people with serious health problems;
• some elderly people.

Housing allocation

18. 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))

19. If the Council decides to suspend or close an application it must write to the applicant and give its reasons. It must also inform the applicant of the right to request a review of these decisions. (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(9))
20. This Council’s housing allocations policy says applications will be suspended if there are arrears of rent. Arrears of rent includes any housing related debt owed to the Council, other social landlords or private landlords. The policy says the suspension may be relaxed in exceptional circumstances, such as where “re-housing is of paramount importance”. Where the applicant has held there tenancy for less than 12 months the policy says “the suspension will only be lifted once confirmation has been received that the former rent arrears have been cleared”.

What happened

21. Miss X asked the Council for help in early February 2019 when her landlord had threatened to evict her for rent arrears. The Council accepted she was threatened with homelessness. It contacted the landlord’s agent to see whether it could stop the eviction.
22. The agent said Miss X could remain in the property if the rent arrears and court costs (amounting to £3,500) were paid and Miss X entered into a new tenancy with monthly rent of £500 instead of £450 under the old tenancy. However, the agent was concerned about whether Miss X would pay the rent because she had not paid any rent since court papers were issued.
23. The Council could not stop the eviction because Miss X had no funds to pay towards the arrears. It provided a personalised housing plan (PHP) setting out what steps it would take to relieve her homelessness and what steps she should take herself.
24. Miss X says the Council advised her it would re-house her within 2 weeks. The Council says it did not tell her this and there is no evidence in the records that it gave her this advice either at this point or later. She also says the Council advised her to reduce her working hours to 16 hours per week. The Council said it did not advise her to do this and there is no evidence in its records that it gave this advice.
25. Miss X was evicted in mid February. The Council placed her in bed and breakfast accommodation. About a week later it placed her in a hostel for families. About a month later it asked her to move to a different room in the same hostel in order to accommodate another family.

Leak from bathroom

26. A few days after moving rooms, Miss X says there was a leak from a bathroom that came through the bedroom ceiling and soaked her daughter’s mattress. She says the Council delayed repairing the leak and the damage to her room. She says it did not replace her daughter’s mattress.
27. The Council says it make the leak safe the day it was reported and it made repairs to Miss X’s room the following day. I have seen a job report confirming repairs to the ceiling the following day. The Council says there was no damage to the child’s mattress so it did not need replacing. It says when the repair work was carried out its officer was concerned about the state of the room and issued a “tidy room notice”. I have not seen this notice.

Homelessness decision

28. The Council decided Miss X was intentionally homeless in mid May 2019. It wrote to Miss X to explain its reasons. It told her it was referring the situation to its children’s social care team because Miss X had a small child with her. It gave her notice to leave the hostel by a date in early June, which she did.
29. The Council said it would continue to offer advice and assistance for a reasonable period after it decided it had no duty to accommodate Miss X.
30. Miss X identified a private rented property that was suitable for her and contacted the Council for assistance. The records show the Council contacted the managing agent but the landlord would not accept a tenant on benefits. Therefore, the Council could not assist Miss X with that property. The Council says Miss X has not contacted it about any other properties and there is no record of such contact.

Housing application

31. Miss X made an application to the Council’s housing register in early March 2019. Her application form said she needed housing for her and her younger daughter. The Council accepted her application. It placed her in band 2, because she was homeless and in temporary accommodation. It said she needed a property with two bedrooms.
32. At the time, Miss X was not allowed to bid for properties because of the previous rent arrears. This is in line with the Council’s allocations policy, which says applications will normally be suspended if there are rent arrears. Miss X started paying £5 per week towards the arrears from mid March 2019. When she had made four weekly payments, the Council exercised discretion to allow her to bid on properties. It wrote to Miss X to confirm this in early April.
33. By the time Miss X left the hostel, she had accrued a further £200 arrears for the hostel. Therefore, the Council suspended her application, which means she cannot bid for properties. It says it could consider allowing her to bid again if she repays the arrears for the hostel.
34. Miss X says the Council refused to include her older daughter in her housing application. The Council says she has not asked it to include her older daughter in her household. However, it says as the older daughter has not lived with Miss X for a significant period Miss X would need to show there are “extenuating circumstances” that mean her older daughter should be considered part of her household.

My findings

35. The Council accepted a homelessness application. It decided the same day that Miss X was threatened with homelessness. It took immediate steps to try and stop the eviction but was not able to stop it going ahead. The Council was not at fault.
36. There is no evidence the Council told Miss X it would re-house her within two weeks nor that the Council advised Miss X to reduce her working hours.
37. When Miss X was evicted, the Council placed her in bed and breakfast accommodation for a few days until a hostel for families became available.
38. Miss X says the Council delayed repairing a leak from a bathroom that caused damage to her bedroom. The Council has provided evidence it took action to repair the leak and the damage caused very quickly after the leak was reported. I cannot say if there was a delay in reporting the problem but the Council cannot be held responsible for any such delay. There is a conflict of views about whether there was damage to the child’s mattress and I cannot say which view is correct. On balance, I consider the Council was not at fault.
39. The Council made enquiries and decided Miss X was intentionally homeless. I have found no fault in the way it made its enquiries and reached this decision. Miss X asked the Council to review the decision and it has done so. The Council was entitled to refer the case to its children’s social care team because Miss X was homeless with a small child.
40. Miss X asked the Council to assist with a private rented property and it did contact the managing agent about it but the landlord did not want to accept a tenant who was on benefits. The Council was not at fault.
41. The Council accepted a housing application. It placed Miss X in band 2, which was the appropriate band for someone who was homeless and in temporary accommodation. It initially suspended the application because of the rent arrears on the previous property but removed the suspension when it was satisfied
    Miss X was making regular payments towards the arrears. It suspended the application again because Miss X was over £200 in arrears with the temporary property. It says it will consider allowing her to bid for properties if those arrears are cleared. The Council has followed its policies and is not at fault.
42. I have seen no evidence in the records that Miss X asked the Council to include her older daughter on the housing application. The Council’s policy says she will need to show “extenuating circumstances” for it to do so because the older daughter has not lived with Miss X for a considerable time. The Council is not at fault.

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Final decision

43. I have completed my investigation. The Council was not at fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman