Summary: Miss X complained about how the Council managed her homelessness and temporary accommodation. The Council was at fault for the confusing information it provided to Miss X about the status of her accommodation and for incorrectly removing her from the housing register. The Council will apologise to Miss X and pay her £250 to recognise the avoidable uncertainty caused to her.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about how the Council managed her homelessness and temporary accommodation. Miss X complained the Council:
1. placed her in temporary accommodation in a different area against supporting evidence to stay in the Council’s area;
2. failed to act when she told it the property had mice and bed bugs; and
3. did not provide her information on joining the housing register for five months.
2. Miss X said this caused her distress, her and her family to suffer injuries and damage to furniture and clothing by the pests. Miss X wanted the Council to apologise and to compensate her for the damage to her furniture and clothes.

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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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. 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)
6. When considering complaints, if there is a conflict of evidence, we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we look at the available relevant evidence and decide what was more likely to have happened.
7. 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

8. I read the documents provided by Miss X and her representative and discussed the complaint with them on the phone.
9. I considered the documents the Council provided in response to my enquiries.
10. Miss 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

Relevant legislation

Homelessness and temporary accommodation

11. 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.
12. Someone is threatened with homelessness if, when asking for assistance from the council on or after 3 April 2018:
• they are likely to become homeless within 56 days; or
• they have been served with a valid Section 21 notice which will expire within 56 days. (Housing Act 1996, section 175(4) & (5)).
13. If a council is satisfied an applicant is homeless, eligible for assistance, and has a priority need the council has a duty to secure that accommodation is available for their occupation. This is called the main housing duty. The accommodation a council provides until it can end this duty is called temporary accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 193)
14. Homeless applicants may request a review within 21 days of being notified of a council’s decision on a number of matters, including the suitability of accommodation offered to the applicant after a homelessness duty has been accepted (and the suitability of accommodation offered under section 200(3) and section 193). Applicants can request a review of the suitability of accommodation whether or not they have accepted the offer. Councils must complete reviews of the suitability of accommodation within eight weeks of the date of the review request.
15. The council must advise applicants of their right to appeal to the county court on a point of law, and of the period in which to appeal. Applicants can also appeal if the council takes more than the prescribed time to complete the review. (Housing Act 1996, sections 202, 203 and 204)

Housing Register

16. The housing register is a list held by a council of people who qualify for housing and are waiting to be offered a property.
17. 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))
18. An allocations scheme must give reasonable preference to applicants in the following categories:
• homeless people;
• people in insanitary, overcrowded or unsatisfactory housing;
• people who need to move on medical or welfare grounds;
• people who need to move to avoid hardship to themselves or others.

(Housing Act 1996, section 166A(3))

What happened

Background

19. Miss X had previously approached the Council in 2018 after she, and her three children, were threatened with homelessness. The Council offered, and Miss X accepted an offer of accommodation in a privately rented property in 2019. The Council told Miss X it had discharged its main housing duty to her.

2022 onwards

20. In October 2022 Miss X approached the Council and said she and her children were going to become homeless because she had been given a notice to quit her current property. By this time Miss X had five children.
21. The Council considered Miss X’s contact and decided that she was threatened with homelessness within two years of previously being housed by the Council because of homelessness. The Council decided to reinstate the homeless duty it owed her.
22. The Council wrote to Miss X in October 2022 and offered her property A to discharge its main housing duty to her. Property A was a rental property with a private landlord. It set out why it considered the property to be suitable taking into account Miss X’s and her family’s needs. It said if she accepted the offer it would have fulfilled its homelessness duty, however Miss X would remain on the housing register for a council property. It set out Miss X’s right to a review of the suitability of the property within 21 days.
23. The Council completed an inspection of property A in September 2022, before Miss X moved in. It found the property was in a good condition with no evidence of pests or vermin.
24. The Council confirmed to Miss X in an email in November 2022 that property A was temporary accommodation.
25. Miss X’s representative contacted the Council about Miss X’s housing register application in February 2023. The Council responded and said it would reinstate Miss X’s application for the housing register.
26. Miss X’s representative complained to the Council in April 2023. They said the temporary accommodation at property A was unsuitable because it was overcrowded and was not suitable for Miss X’s mental health and disability or Miss X’s child’s special educational needs.
27. The Council contacted the representative in May 2023 and asked for further information for it to complete a suitability review of the temporary accommodation. It said once it had completed the review, if the accommodation was found to be unsuitable it would move Miss X. If it decided the property was suitable Miss X could request a s.202 review of the decision. The representative responded with the information requested and said there was also a problem with bed bugs and mice. They said they had contacted the landlord who said he would take action but a week had passed and nothing had been done.
28. The Council responded to Miss X’s complaint in May 2023. It said:
• the property was not overcrowded based on the size of property A and the number of rooms it had, and the ages of Miss X’s five children.
• there was no record of any pest infestations during the inspection in September 2022. It had contacted the landlord who had said he was working to resolve the issues.
29. Miss X’s representatives asked the Council to consider the complaint further. They said:
• they disagreed the property was not overcrowded;
• the Council had not considered the impact of overcrowding on the family’s health needs; and
• the Council had not acted on the pest issue and Miss X’s furniture and clothes were now damaged.
30. Miss X was allocated a council property through its bidding system and moved out of property A in June 2023.
31. The Council responded to Miss X’s complaint at stage two in July 2023. It did not uphold Miss X’s complaint and said:
• Property A was not overcrowded;
• it considered the child’s needs when it offered the temporary accommodation and decided property A was better than shared accommodation which was the other option available at the time; and
• there had been no issues with pests identified before Miss X moved in. Dealing with pests would be the responsibility of the landlord and he had told the Council he would take action in May 2023.
32. The Council wrote to Miss X in mid-September and said it would close the suitability review for property A as Miss X had since moved.

Response to enquiries

33. In response to my enquiries the Council said:
• its offer letter in October 2022 referred to Miss X remaining on the housing register in error. It said because Miss X had moved to a privately rented property she was adequately housed and was no longer eligible for inclusion on the housing register. It said it closed Miss X’s application for the housing register when she moved to property A;
• when it was made aware of its error in the October 2022 discharge letter in February 2023 it took the discretionary decision to reinstate Miss X’s housing application from the previous homeless application;
• it did not complete a suitability review of the temporary accommodation at property A but an ongoing assessment of the property; and
• it was unable to access all of the relevant documents as the team dealing with Miss X’s housing case no longer exists.

My findings

34. When Miss X approached the Council in October 2022 it decided it owed her the main housing duty. It offered her property A which Miss X accepted. The Council told Miss X of her appeal rights. Miss X could have requested a review of the suitability of property A within 21 days of accepting the offer if she did not believe it was suitable, which would then have provided a right of appeal to the county court on a point of law. For the reasons set out in paragraph five I have not investigated this point further.
35. Miss X’s representative made a suitability review request at the beginning of April. The Council accepted that request and should have completed the review within eight weeks and by the beginning of June. The Council did not complete the review and that was fault. However, I do not find that fault caused Miss X any injustice because had the review found the property unsuitable the Council would have had to move Miss X, but Miss X moved out less than a week after the review should have been completed anyway.
36. The Council states it offered Miss X property A to end its housing duty, and she was then adequately housed. It said because she was adequately housed it closed her application to the housing register. However, the records show the Council told Miss X she would remain on the housing register, and it confirmed in November 2022 and in its complaint responses that property A was temporary accommodation so it had not ended its housing duty. The confusion in the Council’s communication and case records is fault and meant that Miss X was incorrectly removed from the housing register for four months. This caused Miss X uncertainty over whether she would have successfully bid on settled accommodation sooner had the Council acted without fault.
37. The Council completed an inspection of property A before Miss X moved in and did not find evidence of any pests. Miss X’s representative told the Council there was an issue with bed bugs and mice in May 2023. They said they had contacted the landlord about the matter. The Council also contacted the landlord who said he was dealing with the matter. As the property was privately rented that was appropriate action for the Council to take in the first instance and there is no evidence of fault. Miss X’s representative told the Council no action had been taken at the end of May, however Miss X moved out of the property less than two weeks later. I have not investigated this point further as there is no evidence of injustice caused to Miss X as she moved out of the property.
38. The Council has said it is unable to access all of the relevant documents. Its failure to keep clear and accurate records, and to be able to access relevant records is fault. The Council agreed to an appropriate service improvement recommendation below.

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Agreed action

39. Within one month of this decision the Council will write to Miss X to apologise and pay her a symbolic amount of £250 to recognise the avoidable uncertainty caused to her by the confusion in the Council’s record keeping.
40. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended.
41. Within three months of this decision the Council will:
• review what happened to the Council’s records when the previous housing team was disbanded to ensure the same issues with record keeping and access to records is not repeated in any future restructure and identify any areas for improvement; and
• remind staff completing reviews of the ongoing suitability of temporary accommodation they should be completed within eight weeks of the request.
42. The Council will provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

43. I have completed my investigation. I found fault causing injustice and the Council has agreed to my recommendations to remedy that injustice and avoid the same fault occurring in the future.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman