Summary: There was delay in offering Miss X temporary accommodation after the main housing duty was accepted. A payment towards her inconvenience remedies the injustice. Giving Miss X a new decision on the suitability of the temporary accommodation in writing will enable Miss X to ask for review of its suitability.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall call Miss X, complains the Council has not followed the correct process when dealing with her homeless application from February 2023 onwards.
2. Miss X has explained that she and her child have been living with family and friends since September 2023 and are now in temporary accommodation which is too far from her child’s school.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. 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)
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)

Back to top

What I have and have not investigated

5. I have investigated Miss X’s complaints from February 2023 until January 2024.
6. The Council has responded to Miss X’s concerns about the suitability of her temporary accommodation from January 2024 onwards by saying it will look again to see if the accommodation is suitable or not. This is a reasonable response by the Council and Miss X can ask for a further review if she does not agree with the decision the Council makes. So, I do not intend to investigate recent events, as the Council is still deciding whether or not the accommodation is suitable.
7. 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) There is a right to a review of decisions at several stages of a homelessness application and we would normally expect complainants to use those rights and then appeal to the courts to challenge those decisions.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

8. I read the papers submitted by Miss X and discussed the complaint with her.
9. I considered the Council’s comments about the complaint and any supporting documents it provided.
10. Miss X and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Law and guidance

11. Someone is threatened with homelessness if, when asking for assistance from the council:

• 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)

12. If councils are satisfied applicants are threatened with homelessness and eligible for assistance, they must help the applicants to secure that accommodation does not stop being available for their occupation. This is the prevention duty. In deciding what steps they are to take, councils must have regard to their assessments of the applicants’ cases. (Housing Act 1996, section 195)
13. Councils must take reasonable steps to help to secure suitable accommodation for any eligible homeless person. This is the relief duty. When a council decides this duty has come to an end, it must tell the applicant in writing (Housing Act 1996, section 189B)
14. 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. (Housing Act 1996, section 193 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 15.39)
15. After completing inquiries, the council must give the applicant a decision in writing. If it is an adverse decision, the letter must fully explain the reasons. All letters must include information about the right to request a review and the timescale for doing so. (Housing Act 1996, section 184, from 3 April 2018 Homelessness Code of Guidance 18.32 and 18.33)
16. There are two types of accommodation councils provide to certain homeless applicants: interim accommodation and temporary accommodation.
17. A council must secure 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 is called interim accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 188)
18. If, having made inquiries, the council is not satisfied an applicant is homeless, eligible, and in priority need, it will have no further accommodation duty.
19. If a council is satisfied an applicant is unintentionally 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)
20. If a council ends its interim accommodation duty, but then goes on to accept the main housing duty, it still has a duty to provide temporary accommodation.
21. The law says councils must ensure all accommodation provided to homeless applicants is suitable for the needs of the applicant and members of their household.  This duty applies to interim and temporary accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.2)
22. Interim and temporary accommodation can be the same physical property. What changes is the legal duty under which a council provides it. This is important because there is a statutory right to review the suitability of temporary accommodation. This then carries a right of appeal to county court on a point of law. There is no statutory right to review the suitability of interim accommodation.

Key facts

23. The Council made a housing appointment for Miss X on 5 January 2023. The Council says its files show that there was no contact from Miss X until 28 February 2023. Miss X says she told the Council her landlord issued an eviction notice in February 2023.
24. On 27 April 2023 the Council wrote to Miss X to say it had accepted the relief duty to her. The Council’s file notes say that Miss X refused interim accommodation, as she preferred to stay in the property or with friends until a permanent offer of housing was available. Miss X says she was not offered interim accommodation and that the Council told her to stay in her property.
25. Miss X says that she left the property in September 2023 to avoid bailiffs becoming involved. She stayed with friends and family.
26. In October 2023 the Council’s private rental lettings team told her that a suitable property maybe becoming available. However, it required some work and so the Council arranged a booking appointment on 1 November 2023 with the placement team to provide Miss X with interim accommodation.
27. Miss x was offered interim accommodation but refused the offer. The Council sent a letter on 1 November 2023 discharging its duty and saying that as Miss X had refused the offer the council was no longer under a duty to secure interim accommodation for her.
28. After the Council accepted the main duty on 1 November 2023, the Council offered Miss X temporary accommodation on 5 January 2024. Miss X moved in on 8 January 2024 and is still living in the temporary two bedroom flat. Miss X says the temporary accommodation is far away from her work and her daughters school. Miss X said it takes them 1 hour 40 minutes to get to her child’s school. Miss X asked for a review of the suitability of the offer and the Council withdrew the offer in March 2024 as it did not have the evidence to decide if the offer was suitable or not.

My analysis

29. The Council accepted the relief duty on 27 April which meant it was satisfied Mrs X was homeless. The Council should decide whether it owed the main duty after 56 days, by 22 June 2023. The Code allows an extra 15 working days to make additional inquiries to make a main duty decision. So, the Council should have decided whether to accept the main housing duty by 5 July.
30. Miss X remained in her rented property until September 2023. So, no injustice was caused to her until then. It is possible that if the Council had accepted the main duty without delay then Miss X would have been placed in temporary accommodation sooner. However, there are notes on the file to show that Miss X preferred to stay with friends and family as she was hopeful that the private rented property would become available in October 2023. There is an email from the housing officer to Miss X on 27 October which says ‘my job is to prevent homelessness and I have worked with you but now it’s well over 56 days and unfortunately you have not been successful with the Lettings Team’. I do not find fault with the Council until this point, as there is evidence that Miss X asked the Council to delay making the decision on the main housing duty as she was hopeful a suitable property would become available and could stay with friends and family until then. Unfortunately, this property did not become available.
31. Miss X also chose not to accept the interim accommodation offered to her just before the main housing duty was accepted. Mrs X has complained the interim accommodation of 1 November was unsuitable as it was a room in a hostel. The Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) Order 2003 says a room in a Bed and Breakfast is not suitable for households with a dependent child.  But, where no other accommodation is available, the Council may place a family in Bed and Breakfast as a last resort but only for a maximum of six weeks.
32. In this situation I cannot say that the offer of a room in a Bed and Breakfast (or a self contained unit in a hostel) was fault. The Council is able to offer a room to families with a child if no other accommodation is suitable for a maximum of 6 weeks.
33. Miss X explains that from September 2023 she was sleeping at friends and families’ houses. At this point Mrs X had been offered interim accommodation but did not accept it as it was too far from her children’s school.
34. Once the Council accepted the main duty it should have provided Temporary Accommodation straight away, two months earlier than it did. This delay was fault. I do not have evidence that this caused significant injustice to Miss X as she was able to stay with family and friends. I consider a payment of £250 towards her inconvenience and distress to be a reasonable remedy.
35. Miss X has said that she has had to pay storage costs of £200 since September 2023.  The Council has a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent the loss of a person’s property. But, it may make reasonable charges for the removal and storage of the applicant’s personal property. So, I do not consider that the Council is responsible for the costs of storage for Miss X’s possessions.

Back to top

Agreed action

36. Within one month of the decision on this complaint the Council should:
• Pay Mrs X £250.
• Make a written decision on whether the current temporary accommodation is suitable so Miss X has the right to request a review or is moved to a more suitable property.
37. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Final decision

38. I have completed my investigation of this complaint. This complaint is upheld, as there was delay. A payment towards her inconvenience remedies the injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman