Summary: A woman complained that the Council had unreasonably decided she was intentionally homeless and ended its housing duty in her case, despite her serious health problems. However the Ombudsman will not investigate this matter because the woman has statutory review and appeal rights she can use to challenge the Council’s decision.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall call Miss B, complained that the Council had unreasonably found her intentionally homeless and was threatening to evict her from her temporary accommodation, even though she is suffering from serious medical conditions. Miss B also complained the Council contributed to her losing her previous private rented accommodation because it was late in paying housing benefit (HB) to her landlord.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if, for example, we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Miss B provided with her complaint, her comments when we spoke on the telephone and her further comments in response to a draft of this decision. I also took account of information from the Council about how it dealt with Miss B’s homelessness case.

What I found

The Law

5. The Housing Act 1996 (“the Act”) sets out councils’ powers and duties to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.
6. If a council decides that an applicant is intentionally homeless it has no further duty to provide them with accommodation, apart from for a reasonable period to allow them to find their own housing.
7. The Act gives homeless applicants a right of review about councils’ main decisions on their homelessness application. This includes a decision that someone is intentionally homeless. If the review decision is negative the applicant can appeal to the county court on a point of law.

What happened

8. Last year Miss B applied to the Council as threatened with homelessness. This was after her landlord gave her notice to leave her private rented accommodation because of rent arrears she had accrued.
9. After the notice ran out in December 2019, Miss B’s landlord applied to court for a possession order.
10. Miss B was receiving HB from the Council to help with her rent. In January 2020 Miss B asked the Council to start paying the HB direct to her landlord.
11. Later that month the court granted a possession order to Miss B’s landlord. Subsequently he obtained an eviction order for a date in March.
12. Around two weeks before the eviction was due to take place Miss B contacted the Council to say her landlord had not received any HB. The Council said it had processed the payment in January, but it did not enter the landlord’s address on the system to allow the payment to be issued. The Council corrected this error and the payment went out to the landlord a week before the eviction was due, covering Miss B’s rent for a period from January to March.
13. The Council placed Miss B in temporary accommodation a few days before the eviction date.
14. However the Council subsequently decided Miss B was intentionally homeless because she had been evicted due to rent arrears. As a result the Council also gave Miss B notice to leave her temporary accommodation. But it later suspended the notice because of the Coronavirus crisis.
15. Miss B has confirmed she is seeking advice from an advice agency about asking for a review of the Council’s intentional homelessness decision.

Analysis

16. However, I have concluded that we should not start an investigation of Miss B’s complaint about the Council’s decision that she is intentionally homeless.
17. In particular, the law already provides a way for Miss B to challenge the Council’s decision by asking for a review and, if necessary, by appealing to the county court. I see no reason why Miss B should not be expected to use her statutory review and appeal rights regarding this issue. Unlike councils and the courts, the Ombudsman has no powers to overturn homelessness decisions.
18. I have also considered if we should pursue as a separate matter Miss B’s complaint that the Council delayed in paying HB to her landlord and that this led him to continue with the eviction.
19. From the information provided it seems there was fault by the Council because of an error which delayed the HB payment being issued by two months. But I do not see that we would be in a position to conclude that any fault by the Council in this regard necessarily caused the significant injustice which Miss B claims.
20. In particular I consider that the impact of the delayed HB payment is an issue which should be more properly considered as part of the Council’s review of its intentional homelessness decision and, if required, in any subsequent court appeal process. I do not see it would be appropriate for the Ombudsman to take a view on a matter which could be subject to court proceedings.
21. In addition, I am not convinced there is sign of any other fault in the way the Council has dealt with Miss B’s homelessness case.
22. In particular, the Council was entitled to give Miss B notice to leave her temporary accommodation having found her intentionally homeless. But I note the Council nevertheless continued to provide temporary accommodation after the initial notice period ran out. I also consider the Council has offered appropriate financial assistance to Miss B to help her find alternative accommodation, even if she has been unsuccessful so far in her attempts to secure other housing.

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Final decision

23. The Ombudsman will not start an investigation of Miss B’s complaint about the Council’s decision that she is intentionally homeless and its threat to evict her from her temporary accommodation. This is because Miss B can use her statutory review and appeal rights to challenge the Council’s decision in her case.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman