Summary: we found no evidence of fault in the way the Council carried out a housing assessment for Mr X and in the conduct of officers who telephoned Mr X.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained that:
• the Council did not properly consider his request in November 2020 for a housing assessment, and housing advice and assistance, when his mother gave him notice to leave her home;
• officers did not handle his case in a timely and professional way;
• officers were rude and abusive when they spoke to him and terminated calls.
2. Mr X has anxiety and depression. He still has unmet housing needs and was upset by the way officers spoke to him. He says this had an adverse impact on his mental health. He wants the Council to apologise, pay compensation and help him find accommodation.

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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. 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

5. I have:
• spoken to Mr X;
• considered the Council’s response to my enquiries and relevant housing records;
• considered the relevant law and guidance.
6. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

7. Mr X has lived for several years with his mother who is the tenant of a one bedroom privately rented flat. Mr X sleeps on the sofa in the open plan living room & kitchen. Mr X has to go through his mother’s bedroom to access the bathroom and this disturbs her at night.
8. Mr X has depression and anxiety and is under the care of community mental health services. He says he sleeps for a long time every day. He has no privacy and the living arrangements are very difficult for him and his mother. The situation worsened when his mother was furloughed during the COVID-19 pandemic and was then made redundant because they both spent much more time in the flat.

The relevant law and guidance

9. If a housing authority has reason to believe that a person applying to the housing authority for accommodation, or assistance in obtaining accommodation, may be homeless or threatened with homelessness, it must make inquiries to satisfy itself whether the applicant is eligible for assistance and if so, what duties – if any – are owed to that person.[Housing Act 1996, section 184]
10. Someone is threatened with homelessness if, when asking for assistance from the Council, he or she is likely to become homeless within 56 days. [Housing Act 1996, section 175(4)]
11. The statutory Code of Guidance on Homelessness (“the Code”) gives advice on dealing with applications made by someone who has been asked to leave accommodation by friends or relatives.
12. The Code says at paragraph 6.11:

“a person who has been occupying accommodation as a licensee whose licence has been terminated (and who does not have any other accommodation available for their occupation) is homeless because they no longer have a legal right to continue to occupy, despite the fact that the person may continue to occupy but as an unauthorised occupier.

13. Paragraph 6.12 says:

“Some applicants may have been asked to leave their current accommodation by family or friends with whom they have been living. In such cases, the housing authority will need to consider carefully whether the applicant’s licence to occupy the accommodation has in fact been revoked, rendering the applicant homeless. Authorities are encouraged to be sensitive to situations where parents or carers have been providing a home for a family member with care or support needs (for example, a person with learning difficulties) for a number of years and who are genuinely finding it difficult to continue with that arrangement, but are reluctant to revoke their licence to occupy formally until alternative accommodation can be secured.”

and paragraph 6.16 continues:

“Housing authorities will also need to be alert to the possibility of collusion where family or friends agree to revoke a licence to occupy accommodation that would have been reasonable for the person to continue to occupy, as part of an arrangement whose purpose is to enable the applicant to be entitled to assistance under Part 7.”

14. Councils must complete an assessment if they are satisfied an applicant is homeless or threatened with homelessness.

Mr X’s request for housing assistance

15. Barnet Homes delivers homelessness and other housing services for Barnet Council. The Housing Options team at Barnet Homes handle requests for housing advice and assistance, including homelessness assessments. There is a two stage process: an initial triage interview with the applicant to establish the key facts and request documents followed by an appointment for a full housing needs assessment interview.
16. On 9 November 2020 Mr X contacted the Housing Service at Barnet Homes. Officer A made brief notes about Mr X’s eligibility for housing assistance and housing needs. Mr X told her his mother had asked him to leave. The officer advised Mr X to provide proof of his identity, a Notice to Quit, proof of his mother’s tenancy and any medical evidence about his mental health conditions. Officer A made an appointment for a telephone initial triage interview on 16 November.
17. Mr X says he posted the documents to Barnet Homes on 11 November. The documents had not arrived by 16 November so Officer A contacted Mr X and rebooked the interview for 20 November.
18. The documents had still not been delivered by 20 November. Officer B tried to speak to Mr X on the morning of 20 November but the calls went to voicemail. Mr X later noticed he had two missed calls. He says the officer did not leave a voicemail message which he considered unprofessional.
19. Mr X called Barnet Homes later that day to complain that the officer had not contacted him at the arranged time. Officer B said she had tried to contact him but she now had to reschedule the call. According to the Council’s records, Mr X raised his voice and asked why that was necessary.
20. Mr X believes the Council had lost or mislaid his documents and that was why the planned interview on 20 November was cancelled. But Barnet Homes has sent me a copy of the documents and the date-stamp shows they were not received until 25 November. Mr X sent a copy of his passport, his mother’s tenancy agreement and a letter from his mother stating he must leave by 30 November.
21. On 25 November Officer C contacted Mr X to book an appointment for the housing assessment interview on 10 December. Officer C also spoke to Mr X’s mother then and she confirmed Mr X had to move out. Officer C’s notes say Mr X’s mother did not raise any concerns about Mr X staying with her until the next interview.
22. On 10 December a duty officer, Officer D, called Mr X to complete the housing assessment. Mr X says the officer did not introduce herself. He said she sounded like the officer he had spoken to on 20 November. Mr X had objected to that officer’s tone and conduct. The officer told Mr X she had not spoken to him before and this was her first contact on the case. She said some of the questions may be repetitive but she had to make sure she had a full understanding of his circumstances. According to her notes, Mr X then said she was being hostile and aggressive and he did not want to continue speaking to her. The officer decided to terminate the call because Mr X was not being cooperative.
23. A manager spoke to Mr X later on that day about the call. He said the appointment would be rebooked for a few weeks’ time.
24. On 2 February 2021 a different duty officer, Officer E, called Mr X to try to complete the housing assessment. Mr X was still staying in his mother’s flat. He said his mother still wanted him to leave. Officer E then told Mr X he would have to provide a new Notice to Quit because the previous one had expired on 30 November 2020. According to the notes, Mr X refused to do so. He said Officer E should ask about the circumstances leading to his application. She said she would do that later but first had to ask about the Notice. According to the Council’s records, Mr X then started to shout at the officer and accused her of being rude and hostile. The officer warned Mr X she would end the call if he kept shouting. The notes say she then terminated the call because Mr X did not stop.
25. Officer E informed the Housing Needs Manager who then spoke to Mr X. Mr X told the manager he felt he had been abused by the officer and he should not have to tolerate such behaviour. The manager said he would like to move the case on and discuss Mr X’s housing needs so the Council could decide what assistance to give him.
26. According to the Council’s notes, Mr X told the manager he had been treated badly and had already provided all the necessary information. The manager confirmed the need for a new Notice to Quit. Mr X asked why he had not been told that before. The manager’s notes say Mr X kept interrupting while he was trying to explain what Mr X needed to do to enable the Council to complete the housing assessment.
27. The Council’s notes say Mr X then accused the manager of being rude and refused to speak to him further. The manager advised Mr X about the procedure for making a complaint. The manager says Mr X demanded he take down details of his complaint and started shouting at him. The manager asked Mr X if he wished to continue with his housing needs application. According to the notes, Mr X said he did not want to continue with the application and just wanted to make a complaint. As Mr X kept shouting, the manager ended the call.
28. Following the call, the manager sent Mr X a text message with details about how to make a complaint.
29. Mr X says the Council should have told him before the 2 February call that it needed a new Notice To Quit. But he also questioned whether it was even necessary. He said it was unprofessional for officers to close his case on 2 February because the original Notice had expired.
30. Mr X said officers berated him and slammed the phone down on him. He says he had never been treated like that before. He said he was not rude to officers but sometimes got frustrated when speaking to them.
31. Mr X told me he would be willing to engage and co-operate with a new housing assessment but he does not feel he should have to put up with abuse and disrespectful treatment from officers.
32. In mid-March 2021, during the Council’s investigation of Mr X’s complaint, an officer in the Housing Options team called Mr X. He asked him to provide a new Notice to Quit to progress his housing application. He sent an email confirming this request and said Mr X would need to provide other documents later. This would include a consent form, a medical questionnaire, his address history and a financial assessment form. He attached a list of the documents. He said he would book an initial housing assessment interview for Mr X once he sent in the new Notice to Quit.
33. Mr X responded and said he would send a new Notice to Quit in April 2021 after lockdown restrictions had eased.
34. The Council’s complaint investigation found some officers had terminated calls with Mr X. It found they did that because Mr X was allegedly disruptive and offensive and had failed to cooperate. Barnet Homes does not record calls so it was not possible for the Council’s investigating officer, or me, to verify what was said in these calls.
35. In response to my enquiries, Barnet Homes said it had requested a new Notice in February 2021 because the November 2020 notice had expired more than two months earlier, and Mr X’s circumstances may have changed since his initial approach. If a new Notice had been provided, it would then have made further inquiries to confirm homelessness such as a home visit. It did not contact Mr X’s mother on 2 February 2021 because Mr X was uncooperative in the housing assessment interview.

Analysis

36. The Council had to complete an assessment of Mr X’s housing needs before it could move on to prepare a Personalised Housing Plan and decide whether it owed him the homelessness prevention or relief duty.
37. The initial delay with the first triage interview in November was due to the late delivery of Mr X’s documents to Barnet Homes and not due to fault on the part of Barnet Homes.
38. The assessment interview arranged for 10 December could have been completed then if Mr X had co-operated. Although Mr X believed Officer D was the officer he had complained about in November, she explained she had not spoken to him before and was new to his case. If Mr X had accepted that information and been willing to continue, the housing assessment could have been completed then without the need for a new Notice to Quit.
39. By the time of the next housing assessment interview in early February 2021, Mr X was an unauthorised occupier because his licence to occupy his mother’s home had been revoked. But more than two months had passed since the previous Notice had expired and Mr X was still staying in his mother’s flat. In these circumstances, I do not consider it was fault for the Council to ask for confirmation that his mother still wanted him to leave. The Council could have telephoned Mr X’s mother, with his consent, but it did not do that because the interview ended abruptly and Mr X later told the manager he did not want to proceed with his application. I know Mr X was annoyed by the request to provide another Notice but, in these particular circumstances, I do not find it was fault for the Council to request one. It should have been straightforward for Mr X to have asked his mother for a new letter.
40. It was not fault for the Council to close the case following the 3 February 2021 call given that Mr X told the manager then that he did not want to continue with his application.
41. During the Council’s investigation of the complaint, Mr X said he would send a new Notice to the Council in April 2021. If he had done that, and been willing to cooperate with any further enquiries, Barnet Homes could have completed the housing assessment with his cooperation. It is still open to Mr X to make a new request for a housing assessment and to provide the requested documents
42. Mr X complained about the conduct of four officers who spoke to him on the telephone. He says they were hostile, rude or aggressive and terminated calls. The notes made by these officers at the time give a different account. They say Mr X shouted at them, was hostile and uncooperative. So I have conflicting evidence about what happened. Without call recordings, there is insufficient evidence to uphold this part of the complaint and find fault in the conduct of officers. The Council accepts that officers did terminate some calls with Mr X. But they would be entitled to do that if, as they claimed, Mr X ignored their requests not to keep interrupting or shouting at them.

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Final decision

43. I have completed the investigation and found no evidence of fault.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman