Summary: Miss X complains the Council did not inform her of her rights when considering her homeless application and failed to provide information about its bidding process. Miss X also complains the Council delayed dealing with her application. She says this caused unnecessary frustration and stress to herself and her family. We have found fault in the Council’s actions regarding this matter and the Council has agreed an appropriate remedy to address the injustice caused to Miss X.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council did not inform her of her rights when considering her homeless application and failed to provide information about its bidding process.
2. Miss X also complains the Council incurred delays while dealing with her application. She says this caused unnecessary frustration and stress to herself and her family, and meant she was housed in unsuitable accommodation.
3. Miss X also complains about the suitability of the temporary accommodation provided by the Council.

Back to top

What I have investigated

4. I have investigated Miss X’s complaint that the Council did not inform her of her rights when considering her homeless application and did not provide information about its bidding process. I have also investigated the complaint that the Council incurred delays while dealing with Miss X’s application.
5. The final section of this statement contains my reasons for not investigating Miss X’s complaint about the suitability of the temporary accommodation.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

6. 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)
7. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are 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)
8. 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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

9. I have spoken to Miss X and considered the information she provided.
10. I have made enquiries to the Council and considered the information provided by it.
11. Miss X and the Council have had the opportunity to provide their comments on a draft of this decision. I have considered their comments before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

The law

12. Section 184 of the Homelessness Act 2002 states “If the local housing authority has reason to believe that an applicant may be homeless or threatened with homelessness, they shall make such enquiries as are necessary to satisfy themselves-
1. whether he is eligible for assistance, and
2. if so, whether any duty, and if so what duty, is owed to him”.
13. Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 sets out councils’ powers and duties to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.
14. A council must secure interim 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 becomes known as temporary accommodation once the council accepts a full housing duty.
15. Part 7, s179 (c) of the Act says local authorities must provide information and advice on the rights of persons who are homeless or threatened with homelessness, and the duties of the authority.

What happened

16. Miss X made a homelessness application in November 2017. She was placed in interim accommodation with her partner and child.
17. In December 2018, the Council told Miss X it was satisfied she was eligible for assistance. The Council placed Miss X and her family on its housing allocations waiting list.
18. Miss X and her family remained in the same property while waiting for alternative accommodation.
19. In January 2019, Miss X had a second child. She asked the Council to place her family in alternative temporary accommodation because she said her existing property was overcrowded. Miss X also asked the Council to tell her about its process for bidding on properties.
20. In May 2019, the Council offered Miss X alternative temporary accommodation.
21. Miss X raised several concerns with the Council about the suitability of the alternative property. She says she asked the Council to provide her with information about her rights before she agreed to move. She also asked the Council to give her regular updates about where she was placed in the allocations priority list.

Miss X’s complaint

22. In May 2019, Miss X complained to the Council. She said the Council had not given her the information she had asked for.
23. Miss X says she had concerns about the safety and condition of the alternative temporary accommodation. She decided not to move to the alternative property because she felt it was not suitable for her and her family’s needs.
24. In May 2019, the Council told Miss X it had already told her about her position on the allocations list. It also said it would not provide a copy of its transfer procedures.
25. In June 2019, the Council issued Miss X with a notice to quit possession of her existing temporary accommodation. It said this was because Miss X had refused a reasonable offer of accommodation.
26. In July 2019, the Council replied to Miss X’s complaint. It said the housing officer who had dealt with her case was not responsible for providing Miss X with information about her homeless application. It also said information about the Council’s procedures was available on its website.
27. The Council said it was not clear whether Miss X’s housing officer had spoken to her about the bidding process. It said Miss X was not able to bid on a property while her homeless application was under consideration. It said Miss X could bid after her application was determined but was unlikely to be successful because she had not been living in the area continuously for three years. It said Miss X’s priority would move up to a higher band three years from the date of her homeless application.
28. Miss X was unhappy with the Council’s response and complained again in July 2019.
29. The Council replied in August 2019. It provided Miss X with a copy of its allocations policy and acknowledged it had not previously sent this as requested. The Council also acknowledged that although it had told Miss X her homeless application had been successful, it had not given any information on the bidding process at that time. It said the Council had sent Miss X a template letter which lacked this information. The Council said it had changed its template letter to address this issue. However, the Council said it had explained the bidding process to Miss X in a meeting in February 2019.
30. The Council apologised to Miss X and said it had not intended to delay her homeless application.
31. Miss X remained unhappy with the Council’s response and brought her complaint to the Ombudsman.

What happened next

32. In February 2020, the Council told Miss X it had reviewed its offer of alternative temporary accommodation. It said it had considered the concerns raised by Miss X and decided the alternative property was suitable for Miss X and her family.
33. Miss X appealed the Council’s decision, and a court hearing took place in July 2020. The court decided to dismiss Miss X’s appeal.

Analysis

34. I have exercised discretion in investigating Miss X’s complaint back to November 2017. This is because Miss X received the Council’s final response to her complaint in August 2019. Miss X brought her complaint to us within 12 months of the Council’s response.

Information provided to Miss X

35. Miss X says the Council did not tell her about her rights when it was considering her homelessness application.
36. Miss X made her application to the Council in November 2017. I have not seen any evidence the Council provided Miss X with information about her rights at that time.
37. I have seen a note from a meeting dated 27 February 2019 between Miss X and the Council. The note says Miss X provided copies of several emails to her housing officer to request information but states she did not receive a reply. The note also says the bidding process was explained to Miss X during this meeting.
38. Miss X has provided me with copies of her emails to the Council which confirm she had previously asked for information and had not received it.
39. I have also seen emails between the Council and Miss X from May 2019. These relate to Miss X’s requests for weekly updates about her position on the housing allocations list. They also show Miss X asked the Council to provide it with a copy of its housing transfer policy.
40. The Council told Miss X it would not provide weekly updates but said it would contact her when suitable alternative temporary accommodation was sought.
41. There is no requirement for the Council to provide weekly updates, and I consider its explanation that it would inform Miss X once suitable alternative accommodation was sought is reasonable. However, the evidence shows the Council refused to provide a copy of its transfer procedures because it said it had already explained how the process worked.
42. In the Council’s stage two response, it apologised for failing to provide this information and provided Miss X with a copy as requested. It also apologised for not providing information about the bidding process in December 2018.
43. As stated at paragraph 14, local authorities must provide information and advice on the rights of persons who are homeless or threatened with homelessness. The Council has acknowledged it failed to provide information about Miss X’s rights relating to its allocations process, at the time of her application, and when she requested clarification about the Council’s policies. Therefore, based on the evidence I have seen, I consider there is evidence of fault by the Council in this matter.

Delays

44. Miss X made her homelessness application in November 2017. The Council says the application was initially dealt with by the Lead Professional Team. It was then transferred to the Complex Assessment Team in July 2018. It says the case was transferred because the Council needed to make enquiries about Miss X’s circumstances before it could decide if she was eligible for assistance.
45. I have seen a copy of the Council’s assessment note and the application for assistance under the Housing Act 1996 Part 7 dated 16 November 2017. I have not seen any further evidence the Council dealt with Miss X’s application until the decision letter dated 6 December 2018.
46. Miss X says she chased the Council for a decision on several occasions and has provided me with emails confirming this.
47. The Council acknowledges there was a delay in dealing with Miss X’s application. It says this was because of a restructure within the Housing department at the time, and because Miss X’s housing officer left the Council. The Council has acknowledged Miss X’s case was overlooked until it was referred to the Complex Assessment Team in July 2018.
48. I consider the Council’s explanation that the case was overlooked, and the lack of any documents from November 2017 to December 2018 to show how Miss X’s application was considered, to be evidence of delay. I also consider this delay constitutes fault.
49. Having identified fault, I must consider whether this caused Miss X a significant injustice. Miss X says she felt the Council discriminated against her because it did not tell her about her rights and delayed dealing with her application. She says the Council’s actions made her feel upset and frustrated. Miss X also says she has spent a lot of time and energy in dealing with her complaint.
50. Whilst I acknowledge Miss X’s comments, it is not for us to determine whether the Council discriminated against Miss X. This is a determination that can only be made via the courts. However, Miss X’s comments have been considered as part of my investigation.
51. Had the Council referred Miss X’s application to the Complex Assessment Team earlier, it could have potentially provided its decision earlier. This in turn, could have allowed Miss X to begin the bidding process sooner. I acknowledge however, the Council says it would have been unlikely Miss X would have been successful in this process because she had not been living in the area for three years. I also acknowledge that once the Council accepted a housing duty to Miss X, it backdated the start date of this responsibility to the date of the homelessness application.
52. I consider the fault identified, namely the delay and lack of information provided to Miss X, caused avoidable uncertainty to Miss X about her homelessness application. I consider this, and the frustration Miss X says she experienced constitutes injustice.

Agreed action

To address the injustice caused by the fault identified, the Council has agreed to take the following action within one month of the final decision:

• apologise to Miss X to acknowledge the uncertainty and frustration caused to her;
• make a payment of £300 to Miss X in recognition of the uncertainty and delay caused by the Council, and

• remind its staff of the Council’s duty to provide information and advice on the rights of persons who are homeless or threatened with homelessness, and the duties of the authority.

Back to top

Final decision

53. We have found fault by the Council and it has agreed to take the above action to resolve this complaint. I have therefore concluded my investigation.

Back to top

Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

54. I have not investigated Miss X’s complaint about the suitability of the temporary accommodation. This is because this aspect of the complaint was the subject of a court hearing in June 2020.
55. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman