Summary: Miss C complained the Council failed to resolve the billing issues for her interim accommodation with the housing provider. She also says the Council delayed providing her with a final decision letter on her homelessness application. We find the Council was at fault as it should have been more proactive in resolving the billing issues and it significantly delayed providing Miss C with a decision on her homelessness application. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

The complaint

1. Miss C complained the Council failed to resolve the billing issues for her interim accommodation with the housing provider. She also says the Council delayed providing her with a final decision letter on her homelessness application.
2. Miss C says the matter has caused distress and upset. She is being hassled by debt collectors and bailiffs because of the Council’s failures.

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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 an organisation’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 considered information from Miss C. I made written enquiries of the Council and considered information it sent in response.
6. Miss C 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

Homelessness

7. 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.
8. If a council has ‘reason to believe’ someone may be homeless or threatened with homelessness, it must take a homelessness application and make inquiries. The threshold for taking an application is low. The person does not have to complete a specific form or approach a particular council department. (Housing Act 1996, section 184 and Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraphs 6.2 and 18.5)
9. 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. (Housing Act 1996, section 188)
10. If a council is satisfied an applicant is homeless, eligible for assistance, and has a priority need the council has a duty to ensure that accommodation is available for them. This is the main housing duty.

Housing allocations

11. 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))
12. The Council operates a choice-based lettings scheme which enables housing applicants to bid for available properties which it advertises.
13. Applicants who are homeless will be placed in priority Band 3.

What happened

14. This chronology provides an overview of key events and does not detail everything that happened.
15. Miss C made a homelessness application in 2021. The Council provided her with emergency interim accommodation in April. When she moved in, the Council provided her with an agreement which said she was not responsible for paying utility bills and council tax. The agreement stated the housing provider was responsible for paying council tax, and if she received a council tax bill, to contact the provider. It also said if she experienced any problems, she should contact the Council directly.
16. Miss C emailed the Council in July and asked for an update on her homelessness application. She sent a chaser email a few weeks later as she did not receive a response. She also said she was having issues with the housing provider paying the utility bills.
17. Miss C contacted her MP about the issues. The Council wrote to the MP in September and said Miss C’s homelessness application was taking longer than expected. It said it would issue a decision soon.
18. Miss C sent the Council further chaser emails in October. She sent a formal complaint in November. She said she had received a court summons for non-payment of council tax. She also said she had received debt letters from the utility companies. She said the housing provider and the Council had failed to resolve the issues. Finally, she said she was still waiting for a decision on her homelessness application.
19. The Council spoke to Miss C in December. Miss C said the housing provider had started to pay the outstanding bills.
20. Miss C contacted the Council the following week and said she was receiving chaser letters for unpaid bills. The Council contacted the housing provider and told it to resolve the situation.
21. Miss C emailed the Council in January 2022 and said she had received another letter asking her to attend court for non-payment of council tax. The Council contacted the housing provider and told it to pay the outstanding bills.
22. Miss C sent the Council several emails chasing up the decision on her homelessness application. The Council did not respond.
23. The housing provider sent Miss C an eviction notice in March and said she would have 28 days to leave the property. Miss C contacted the Council about it in April. The Council responded and said it had spoken to the housing provider and asked for more time.
24. Miss C sent the Council a further email about another court summons she had received. She said it was the fourth one. The Council did not respond so she sent a further email a couple of weeks later. The Council said it would refer the matter to management.
25. The Council did not get in contact with Miss C, so she sent it a further email in June. She said no one was taking responsibility for the debt and the housing provider had stopped paying since the eviction notice. The Council responded and said it had referred the matter to the housing provider.
26. Miss C complained to the Council in July about the ongoing billing issues and the delayed decision on her homelessness application. The housing provider contacted Miss C and asked for the outstanding bills. It asked for a few days to resolve the matter.
27. The housing provider contacted Miss C at the beginning of August and asked for her bank details so it could provide her with the money to pay the bills. Miss C responded and said she was not happy to pay the bills as it was not her responsibility.
28. The Council responded to Miss C’s complaint and said it would escalate the homelessness decision to a manager. It also said the housing provider had agreed to settle the outstanding bills.
29. Miss C emailed the Council and re-iterated she was not responsible for paying the bills as it was not in the agreement she received.
30. The Council wrote to Miss C at the end of August and offered her alternative accommodation.
31. The Council issued its decision letter on Miss C’s homelessness application on 29 September. It accepted it had a main housing duty to secure suitable accommodation for her. It placed her in priority Band 3 on its housing register.

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Analysis

32. The Council significantly delayed issuing a decision on Miss C’s homelessness application. This is fault. It placed her in interim accommodation in April 2021, but it did not issue a decision until September 2022. This is a 17 month wait.
33. The Council says the delay was due to a high demand on its services and a change in personnel. It says it has backdated Miss C’s application to join the housing register to April 2021 to ensure she does not suffer a loss.
34. I welcome that the Council has backdated Miss C’s application. There is an estimated waiting time of 10 years for applicants in Band 3 who need a two-bedroom property, so it is highly unlikely Miss C has missed on out on successfully bidding for a property. However, the Council’s faults have caused Miss C an injustice as she was put to time and trouble repeatedly chasing for a response over an extended period. The Council regularly failed to respond to Miss C’s emails, and it also failed to keep her updated. The Council’s response fails to recognise this injustice.
35. The Council was also at fault for how it handled the billing issues. I cannot see it took any action to respond to Miss C’s concerns about the non-payment of the utility bills in July 2021. It did contact the housing provider regularly from December 2021 to February 2022, but then this contact stopped. Although it said it would contact the housing provider in June 2022, there no evidence it did so. The Council has only been able to provide me with contact it had with the housing provider in August 2022.
36. Miss C has been put to significant time and trouble chasing matters up. The Council did not always respond to her emails about the matter. She has also received several summonses to court and demands for final payments, which has caused frustration and distress. It is possible she would have received less of this correspondence if the Council had been more proactive.
37. Miss C has advised the billing issues are still outstanding. She says she will not provide her bank details because it is the housing provider’s responsibility to pay the bills. She says the housing provider had previously paid the bills directly. It only started asking for her bank details in August 2022.
38. I understand Miss C’s reluctance to take responsibility for the bills as it states in the agreement it is the housing provider’s responsibility. The Council should work with the housing provider to ensure it takes responsibility for the outstanding bills and they are settled promptly.

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Agreed action

39. To address the injustice caused by fault, by 15 December 2022 the Council has agreed to:

• Apologise to Miss C.
• Pay Miss C £400 for her time and trouble, frustration, upset and distress.
• Work with the housing provider to ensure it takes responsibility for the outstanding bills and they are settled promptly.

40. By 12 January 2023:

• Issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure homelessness applications are processed in a timely way. If there are going to be delays, staff should keep applicants updated at key intervals.

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Final decision

41. There was fault by the Council, which caused Miss C an injustice. The Council has agreed to my recommendations and so I have completed my investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman