Summary: Miss B complains about the Council’s decision to place her daughter, Miss C, in unsuitable housing. There is no evidence of fault in the Council’s handling of Miss C’s homelessness application. The merits of the homelessness decision and suitability of the accommodation offered carry appeal rights and it is not unreasonable to expect Miss C to use these to challenge the Council’s decision. The Ombudsman cannot investigate Miss B’s complaint about the Housing Association’s handling of Miss C’s subsequent request to move to another property because these complaints fall within the remit of the Housing Ombudsman Service.

The complaint

1. Miss B complains on behalf of her daughter, Miss C. Miss B complains about the Council’s decision to place Miss C in unsuitable housing. Miss B says the accommodation is unsafe and places Miss C’s health at risk. Miss B feels the Council has ignored key information about Miss C’s mental health conditions when it insisted she accepted the accommodation offered. Miss B is worried Miss C will harm herself if she is not moved to a suitable property as soon as possible.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
4. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)
5. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)
6. 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

7. I have spoken to Miss B and considered the information she has provided. I have made enquiries with the Council and considered the information it has provided, which includes information from the Housing Association responsible for managing Miss C’s tenancy.
8. I gave the Council and Miss B the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

Legislation and statutory guidance

9. 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.
10. If a council is satisfied an applicant is homeless, eligible for assistance, and has a priority need the council has a duty to secure that accommodation is available for their occupation (unless it refers the application to another housing authority under section 198). But councils will not owe the main housing duty to applicants who have turned down a suitable final accommodation offer or a Housing Act Part 6 offer made during the relief stage, or if a council has given them notice under section 193B(2) due to their deliberate and unreasonable refusal to co-operate. (Housing Act 1996, section 193 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 15.39)
11. Homeless applicants may request a review within 21 days of being notified of the following decisions:

• their eligibility for assistance
• what duty (if any) is owed to them if they are found to be homeless or threatened with homelessness
• giving notice to bring the prevention duty to an end
• the suitability of accommodation offered to the applicant after a homelessness duty has been accepted (and the suitability of accommodation offered under section 200(3) and section 193). Applicants can request a review of the suitability of accommodation whether or not they have accepted the offer.

12. 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))
13. An allocations scheme must give reasonable preference to applicants in the following categories:

• homeless people;
• people in insanitary, overcrowded or unsatisfactory housing;
• people who need to move on medical or welfare grounds (including any grounds relating to a disability);
• people who need to move to avoid hardship to themselves or others. (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(3))

What happened

14. Miss C has a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and adjustment disorder. Miss C’s conditions mean, amongst other symptoms, that she struggles with stressful situations and can find interaction with people challenging and distressing. Miss C receives treatment from her doctor and a clinical psychiatrist.
15. In early October 2018, Miss C’s Member of Parliament (MP) approached the Council for help. The MP explained Miss C was very vulnerable and about to become homeless following the breakdown of her relationship and her admission to hospital a month earlier following an attempted suicide. The MP asked the Council to provide urgent help and support to Miss C.
16. Miss C met with a Council Housing Officer on 17 October 2018. She provided information about her circumstances and explained she would not be receiving any proceeds from the imminent sale of the property she was living in. Miss C provided details of her health conditions, the medication and other treatment she was receiving. The Council placed Miss C in housing priority band A as needing urgent housing because of her impending homelessness.
17. The following day, a colleague from the Council’s Benefits Maximisation Team contacted the Housing Officer to advise that Miss C’s mental health was likely to suffer if she was housed too far from her support network (her mother and doctor) and in high-rise accommodation. The Housing Officer noted this and contacted a Housing Association in the area to ask if it had any properties immediately available that would meet Miss C’s needs.
18. Miss C continued to contact the Housing Officer during this time as she was very anxious about her situation. Miss C asked the Housing Officer for written notes of their meeting because she was struggling to remember what they had discussed. The Housing Officer told Miss C she had a copy of the Personal Housing Plan (PHP) they had completed at the meeting, which contained the key information they had discussed. The Council also provided Miss C with written confirmation that it owed her a housing duty and of her right to request a review of its decision.
19. The Housing Association identified a ground-floor property on 8 November and arranged for Miss C to view this on 16 November 2018. The Housing Association recorded Miss C raised some concerns about the accommodation at the viewing. Miss B says Miss C was told she would not be offered any other properties if she did not accept this one. The Council wrote to Miss C on 22 November 2018 to confirm its housing duty had ended as she accepted the property offered by the Housing Association. This letter included details of Mss C’s right to request a review of the Council’s decision to end its duty or the accommodation offered.
20. Miss C continued to raise concerns about her accommodation with the Housing Association after she moved in. Her concerns related to the levels of noise from neighbours which exacerbate her mental health conditions, the cleanliness of the property and a rodent infestation. In early March 2019, Miss C and Miss B met with the Housing Association to discuss their complaints about the property and the impact this was having on Miss C’s mental well-being. Miss C became so distressed during the meeting she had to leave, and the Housing Association had to call the Police for help as Miss C was threatening to harm herself. The Housing Association suggested to Miss B that her daughter made an application to be readmitted to the housing register on health and welfare grounds, although it does not appear Miss C applied at this time.
21. Miss B also contacted to the Council at the end of March 2019. She complained the Housing Association was not taking seriously Miss C’s concerns about the state of the property or the impact this was having on her health and mental well-being. Miss B told the Council she was very worried that Miss C would attempt to take her own life again if she was not immediately rehoused, preferably to a bungalow in a quieter area.
22. The Council responded to Miss B’s complaint at the beginning of April. It thanked Miss B for highlighting her concerns about her daughter’s situation and explained it had referred the matter to Miss C’s landlord, the Housing Association, for further action and to avoid any delay in resolving the matter.
23. Miss B escalated her complaint with the Council at the end of May 2019 because she felt the Council was still not doing enough to help Miss C move to another property. The Council responded and explained it could not consider her complaint under stage two of its procedure because it was more appropriate for Miss B to make her complaints about Miss C’s accommodation to the Housing Association. The Council said it would not be able to achieve the outcome Miss B was looking for (that Miss C be moved to another property) and signposted her to the Housing Association’s complaint procedure.
24. The Housing Association investigated Miss C’s complaints about noise nuisance by her neighbour in May 2019 but was unable to take the matter further due to a lack of evidence. The Housing Association sent its Pest Control Team to Miss C’s property on two occasions in July 2019, when it laid poisoned bait for rodents and installed mesh around air vents to prevent mice from entering the property. Miss B says Miss C told her she was anxious about the rat poison in the property as she was tempted to take it to harm herself. Miss B was extremely worried about this and complained to the Housing Association about the condition of Miss C’s accommodation. The Housing Association processed Miss C’s housing application around the same time and placed her in band C on health and welfare grounds.
25. Miss C appealed the Housing Association’s decision to place her in band C. She provided information from her psychiatrist about her mental health conditions. The Housing Association considered this information and increased Miss C’s priority banding from C to B on health and welfare grounds.
26. Miss B contacted the Ombudsman because she remains concerned about her daughter’s mental well-being while she stays in her current accommodation. Miss B says Miss C has been bidding on properties on the housing register but has yet to make a successful bid to be rehoused.

Analysis

27. The Council acted quickly when it received correspondence from Miss C’s MP about her situation. It recorded details of Miss C’s circumstances, including information about her mental health conditions. The Council’s decision to provide housing support on the grounds of Miss C’s impending homelessness was not fault, nor does it suggest the Council was ignoring her health conditions.
28. The Council’s letters to Miss C when it commenced and ended its duty to prevent her homelessness included details of how Miss C could request a review of its decisions and the suitability of the accommodation provided. This was in line with statutory guidance. If Miss C wanted to challenge the Council’s decision, it was not unreasonable to expect her to ask for a review, seeking help with this if necessary. It was then not unreasonable for her to use her right of appeal to the county court if she thought there were grounds to do so. This is because this is the specific process the law provides. The county court has powers we do not have to make an order confirming, quashing or varying the Council’s decision as it thinks fit.
29. The Housing Association made the decision to readmit Miss C to the housing register on health and welfare grounds rather than because of a reasonable preference for housing. The Ombudsman does not deal with complaints about housing allocations, unless they are from applicants with a reasonable preference. We cannot investigate Miss B’s complaint about the Housing Association’s handling of Miss C’s request to move to another property on grounds of her health or the condition of her current accommodation. Complaints of this nature fall within the remit of the Housing Ombudsman Service.

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Final decision

30. I have completed my investigation and found no evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman