Summary: Mr X’s complaint about the quality of the housing advice and assistance he received when he was threatened with homelessness was made late. The investigation has been discontinued for this reason. There was no significant fault in the Council’s handling of his complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains he was not given adequate housing advice and assistance by a named officer in the Housing Advice team when he was threatened with homelessness at his former private rented accommodation. He is also dissatisfied with the way the Council investigated his complaint about officers in the Housing Advice team.
2. Mr X was evicted in March 2019 and became homeless. He believes this would not have happened if he had been given better housing advice and support. He says he has lost his belongings because he had nowhere to store them. He has suffered considerable worry and stress which has had an impact on his health. He considers the Council should apologise and pay compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons to do so. A complaint is late when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I have spoken to Mr X and considered all the information he sent me.
7. I considered the Council’s response to my enquiries and relevant housing records. I have read Mr X’s complaints to the Council and its replies.
8. I have written to Mr X and the Council with my draft decision and considered their comments.

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What I found

9. Mr X was a tenant of private rented accommodation in the Council’s area. He had lived in the property for several years.
10. In October 2017 Mr X’s landlord served him with a Section 21 Notice because he wished to recover possession of the property. Mr X contacted the Housing Advice team to ask for advice and assistance.
11. Officer A met Mr X at a drop-in session in early October 2017. Mr X did not have his tenancy agreement or the Section 21 Notice. She asked him to return with these documents so she could check them and give advice. She noted there was a dispute between Mr X and his landlord about claimed rent arrears. Mr X said he had made top-up payments to the landlord because Housing Benefit did not cover the full rent. He told Officer A he had made cash payments to the landlord and had no receipts. He did not have a rent book.
12. Mr X returned with the tenancy agreement and the Section 21 Notice. Officer A decided the Section 21 Notice was not valid. She contacted Mr X’s landlord to explain this.
13. Officer A wrote to Mr X in late October 2017 to say his landlord still wanted to end his tenancy. She said the landlord had to return Mr X’s tenancy deposit in order to serve a valid Section 21 Notice. She asked Mr X to contact her as soon as he received a new Notice to make another appointment.
14. Mr X’s landlord served a new Section 21 Notice in November 2017. Mr X did not return to the Council until 9 January 2018. Officer A decided the new Notice was also defective and invalid. Mr X told Officer A the landlord had not yet returned his tenancy deposit.
15. Officer A wrote to Mr X on 9 January 2018 to confirm her advice. She referred to the dispute between Mr X and his landlord about whether he had paid all the rent due. Mr X believed he had overpaid but the landlord said he was in arrears. Officer A explained that the Council had paid Housing Benefit direct to the landlord every four weeks. She could not establish how much Mr X had paid to the landlord because he had paid in cash and did not have a rent book or receipts. She advised Mr X to contact her if the landlord tried to evict him without a Court order. She also advised Mr X to get legal advice if the landlord applied to the County Court for a possession order.
16. In late January 2018 Mr X attended the Council’s office with the third Section 21 Notice. Officer A decided this Notice was valid.
17. Officer A arranged for Mr X to get support from a Reablement worker. The Council also increased Mr X’s priority on its Housing Register and offered him advice about bidding for properties and another housing scheme.
18. In late June 2018 Mr X’s landlord called Officer A. He said he had not yet applied to the Court for a possession order. Officer A told the landlord he would first have to serve a new Section 21 Notice before starting possession proceedings. She closed Mr X’s case at that point because he was not threatened with homelessness.
19. On 10 August 2018 Mr X met the manager of the Housing Advice team. Mr X expressed concerns about the way Officer A had handled the case. According to the Council’s records, Mr X agreed to return with the latest Section 21 Notice because the Council had not seen it. The manager said the Housing Advice team could then give him further advice. The Council’s case notes say Mr X was happy with this way forward. The manager considered he had informally resolved Mr X’s complaint.
20. Mr X did not return to the Housing Advice team with the new Section 21 Notice until 15 October 2018. The manager then met him again.
21. The County Court later made a possession order. Mr X left the private rented accommodation in March 2019. The Council offered Mr X interim accommodation when he became homeless because it had reason to believe he was in priority need. Mr X chose to arrange his own accommodation instead and the Council reimbursed him. Mr X has since moved to self-contained supported accommodation.

Mr X’s complaints to the Council

22. The Council’s complaint procedure has an informal stage which aims to resolve complaints promptly within the service. If matters are not resolved at this stage, the complaint moves on to a two stage formal complaints procedure. At the second stage a more senior officer reviews the Stage One response. The Stage Two response should be sent within 25 days.
23. On 19 October 2018 Mr X contacted Customer Services to make a complaint about the Housing Advice team. He said he did not trust the staff and felt they were trying to “fob him off”. He did not name any specific officer. He asked the Council to send him correspondence to prove that his Housing Benefit “top-up” had been paid. He said staff had not given him correct advice when he was threatened with eviction.
24. The manager of the Housing Advice team replied on 25 October. He referred to their meeting on 10 August. He said Mr X had not returned with the Section 21 Notice and correspondence from the Courts until mid-October 2018. He said he was satisfied the Housing Advice team had handled his case properly and given him correct advice. He sent Mr X a copy of the housing case notes and Officer A’s correspondence. He explained Mr X could ask for his complaint to go to the second stage of the Council’s procedure if he was not satisfied.
25. Mr X visited the Council’s office on 8 November to pursue his complaint. He then made a specific complaint about Officer A. He alleged she had taken the landlord’s side in the dispute about the rent arrears. He also complained that the manager of the Housing Advice team had conspired to protect Officer A. He alleged that the Council had falsified or deleted some documents. He made it clear he wanted the Council to carry out a Stage Two investigation.
26. A senior manager replied to the Stage Two complaint on 7 January 2019. She did not uphold the complaint. She said the Housing Advice team had tried to negotiate for Mr X to remain in his private rented accommodation but his landlord would not agree to this. Officers then tried to find alternative accommodation for him. She explained the Council only had records of the Housing Benefit payments it had made to Mr X’s landlord. It did not have records of the top-up payments Mr X made to the landlord because this was a private arrangement between them. She also said Housing Benefit payments stopped in late June 2018 when Mr X transferred to Universal Credit. The housing costs were then included in the Universal Credit claim which was administered by the Department for Work and Pensions.
27. The senior manager told Mr X his complaint had now reached the final stage of the Council’s complaints procedure. She explained he could contact the Ombudsman if he was not satisfied and gave him the relevant details.
28. Mr X complained to the Ombudsman on 30 August 2019, more than seven months later. His complaint to the Ombudsman focused on Officer A’s actions. He said the matter had been ongoing for about two years.
29. Mr X made the Stage One and Stage Two complaints to the Council before he was evicted and became homeless in March 2019. So he has not complained to the Council about what happened after he became homeless and the loss of his belongings.

Analysis

30. Mr X met the manager in August 2018. He then made a formal complaint to the Council in October 2018. The Council sent its final response in January 2019. The letter explained Mr X could complain to the Ombudsman if he was not satisfied. Mr X waited until late August 2019 to contact us.
31. The law says people must complain to the Ombudsman within twelve months of when they first knew about the matter. Mr X says he was told the 12 months runs from the date he received the Council’s final response to his complaint in January 2019. That is not correct. The 12 months runs from the time Mr X first knew about the matter which led him to make a complaint to the Council.
32. On 9 January 2018 Officer A wrote to Mr X to explain why she could not help with his dispute with the landlord about the rent arrears. She said there was no evidence to prove how much Mr X had paid to his landlord. The Council only had records of the Housing Benefit it had paid to the landlord. The Council did not have records of any payments Mr X made to the landlord and there was no reason for it to have this information. When Mr X received this letter, he knew Officer A could not assist him in this dispute. This letter was sent to Mr X more than 12 months before he complained to us. It is therefore too late for us to investigate this complaint now.
33. We look at each complaint individually, and on its merits, considering the circumstances of each case. We may exercise discretion to accept a late complaint if there are good reasons to do so. However, I see no reason why Mr X could not have complained to us before 30 August 2019. He says an advocate did not help him to make the complaint sooner. But I have taken into account that when Mr X made the complaint in August 2019, he submitted the complaint through our website without assistance from a representative.
34. Mr X’s complaint about the way the Council investigated his complaint is not late. The Council’s formal complaint investigation ran from October 2018 to January 2019.
35. However, I do not consider there was any significant fault in the Council’s investigation of the complaint. The manager of the Housing Advice team believed he had informally resolved the complaint in his meeting with Mr X in August 2018. When Mr X contacted Customer Services again in October 2018 to say he was not satisfied, the manager then investigated it at Stage One of the Council’s complaints procedure. At the final stage, a more senior manager reviewed the case and wrote to Mr X. The Council did not complete the Stage Two investigation within 25 days. But the delay was not so excessive to be fault. The senior manager also informed Mr X of his right to complain to the Ombudsman when she sent the final response in January 2019.

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Final decision

36. I have discontinued the investigation because the main part of Mr X’s complaint is late. I have decided there is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman