Summary: The Council failed to provide suitable accommodation for Ms X and her family for almost two and a half years. This included a prolonged stay in bed and breakfast accommodation. In recognition of the injustice caused by this fault (service failure), the Council has agreed to apologise and pay Ms X £13,580. The Council has also agreed to pay Ms X £200 for each additional future month she spends in unsuitable accommodation and said it will carry out our recommended service improvement.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council:
1. wrongly made a safeguarding referral due to the disrepair in the family home, rather than resolving the disrepairs they reported;
2. failed to deal with her disrepair reports properly; and
3. failed to provide her and her family with suitable accommodation.
2. Mrs X said the Council’s faults have caused her and her family distress and led to them living in unsuitable accommodation for a prolonged period.

Back to top

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. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. Service failure can happen when an organisation fails to provide a service as it should have done because of circumstances outside its control. We do not need to show any blame, intent, flawed policy or process, or bad faith by an organisation to say service failure (fault) has occurred. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1), as amended)
6. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
7. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement.

Back to top

What I have and have not investigated

8. In this case, I have considered, in line with paragraph 6, whether to exercise discretion to look back to events beginning in July 2021.
9. I have decided I should investigate from this period, due to the complainant having significant health issues and complex issues in her personal life which affected her raising a complaint sooner.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

10. I considered the information provided by Ms X and the Council.
11. I considered the relevant law and guidance as set out below.
12. I considered our Guidance on Remedies.
13. I considered all comments made by Ms X and the Council on a draft decision before making this final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Law and guidance

Temporary accommodation

14. 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)
15. 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 accommodation and accommodation provided under the main housing duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and (from 3 April 2018) Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.2)
16. Bed and breakfast accommodation is not suitable for households with ‘family commitments’. The Order defines this as a household that includes a dependent child or a pregnant woman. Where no other accommodation is available, the Council may place a family in bed and breakfast accommodation as a last resort but only for a maximum of six weeks. (The Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) Order 2003)
17. Anyone who believes their temporary accommodation is unsuitable can ask the Council to review the accommodation’s suitability. (Housing Act 1996, section 202) If the Council’s review decides the accommodation is unsuitable, the Council must provide suitable accommodation. If the review decides the accommodation is suitable, the applicant has the right to appeal to the county court on a point of law. (Housing Act 1996, section 204)

What happened

18. The Council decided it owed Ms X and her family a main housing duty in summer 2021, as she was homeless, eligible for assistance and in priority need.
19. On the same day the Council made Ms X and her children an offer of temporary accommodation provided by a housing association, which I refer to as Property 1. The family moved in shortly after. The Council’s records show it considered the family to be “severely overcrowded” in Property 1. However this was the largest property the Council could secure for the family at the time.
20. The Council informed Ms X of her right to request a review of the suitability of this temporary accommodation if she did so within 21 days. Ms X did not request a review.
21. Shortly after moving in, Ms X reported multiple repairs issues to the landlord and Council including the toilet not flushing, a broken banister and the washing machine not working. The records do not show that works were arranged to carry out these repairs.
22. From early 2022 Ms X reported issues to the landlord with their heating and the boiler not working. The social landlord said it would arrange for a heating engineer to go out. However Ms X continued to report the same issues for several months afterwards.
23. In March 2023 Ms X’s family support worker attended the property and made urgent reports to the Council and landlord regarding the heating and damage to the ceiling which could be a health and safety issue.
24. Two days later a housing officer attended with the family support worker and made a referral to Environmental Health and to the landlord regarding the disrepair and a possible pest infestation.
25. Environmental health inspected and issued a report a few days later which said the presence of a rat infestation was a Category 1 hazard. On the same day the landlord offered to carry out an inspection.
26. Pest control attended the property three weeks later and confirmed the family’s property was “invaded with rats” that were regularly breeding. On the same day, the Council identified the family needed to be moved urgently and that hotel accommodation would not be suitable. It contacted multiple self-contained accommodation providers over two days, but none were available. So the Council moved the family into hotel accommodation while the landlord completed repair and pest control works.
27. Ms X and the children lived in the hotel for seven months. During this time, the Council routinely searched for other properties to move the family into as it was aware the hotel was unsuitable. The housing team liaised with social services, private landlords and social housing providers to find alternative accommodation but none was available that met the family’s needs.
28. Throughout this time, Ms X reported to the Council that she was struggling to afford to feed her children due to not having any facilities to cook. Several months after this, the Council arranged for a microwave and a fridge in a second room in the hotel to use for dining.
29. At the end of November 2023, the family moved back into Property 1 when all repairs were completed.
30. The Council is currently working with Ms X’s landlord to have the landlord purchase a property that meets this family’s needs. It says once this has taken place, the Council will offer this property to the family to end the Council’s housing duty.
31. Ms X complained to the Council. She said the Council was wrong to involve children’s services due to the disrepair issues at the property and said the housing team had not been proactive in dealing with the family’s disrepair reports.
32. The Council responded to say it was aware the accommodation was unsuitable and was actively searching for alternative properties. It said it did not uphold Ms X’s complaint that it wrongly involved children’s services as it had not made any safeguarding referral following the visit. The Council signposted Ms X to the Ombudsman if she was unhappy.

My findings

Complaint 1a) Housing wrongly made a safeguarding referral due to the disrepair in the family home

33. The Council’s housing team did not make a safeguarding referral to children’s services following its visit to Property 1 in March 2023. Children’s services were already involved with the family before this. The Council was not at fault.

Complaint 1b) failed to deal with Ms X’s disrepair reports properly

34. Between July 2021 and March 2023 Ms X contacted the Council several times due to repairs issues. She reported problems with the property’s toilet, washing machine, heating and hot water. The records show the landlord failed to promptly deal with these matters. Ms X most often reported the heating and hot water issue and stressed the impact this was having on the family.
35. The Council has a continuing duty to ensure the suitability of temporary accommodation it provides and to keep this under review. Ms X raised important disrepair issues over a period of several months which were not resolved by the landlord.
36. The Council was not proactive enough in responding to these repairs issues and ensuring the accommodation she occupied remained suitable. This was fault. This fault contributed to the period Ms X and the children spent in unsuitable accommodation.
37. In mid-March 2023, following visits to the property by staff in children’s services and the housing team, further disrepair reports were made to the landlord. This time the reports were of a possible rat infestation and damage to the ceiling which posed potential risk to the household. There is no record of Ms X reporting these issues herself before this time. Therefore the Council was not at fault for not responding to these issues earlier.
38. Following the Council’s visits, it made referrals to Environmental Health and Ms X’s landlord. The Council responded promptly to the presence of the Category 1 hazard and moved the family out of Property 1 within a few days of the pest control report. The Council acted without fault in how it responded to these later reports of infestation and ceiling damage, other than with the accommodation it provided, which I deal with below.

Complaint 1c) failed to provide Ms X and her family with suitable accommodation

39. Ms X and her children initially lived at Property 1 for one year and nine months. The Council accepted the family were “severely overcrowded” in this accommodation. There were also unresolved repairs issues at this accommodation including no access to heating and hot water. We do not know for what exact length of time Ms X experienced these issues, but records suggest there were repeated periods where these were unresolved for several months.
40. Ms X had a right to request a review of the suitability of Property 1, as set out in paragraph 17. Ms X did not request a review. However I consider there was no reason for her to do so, as the Council was already aware that the property was unsuitable and was taking steps to find alternative accommodation.
41. The records show the Council regularly looked for alternative accommodation for the family during this time and was aware it was unsuitable but could not find any properties of the size the family needed.
42. When it confirmed the Category 1 hazard, the Council swiftly moved the family into bed and breakfast accommodation due to the dangers at Property 1. The Council tried to find more suitable accommodation for the family from a range of sources before it placed them in this hotel, but again, none was available.
43. Due to a lack of alternative properties, the family then spent seven months living in bed and breakfast accommodation. For most of this period, the family had no cooking facilities at all. Later they were provided with a microwave and fridge. The Council’s records show it was aware that the accommodation was extremely unsuitable and kept searching for other accommodation for the family but it was unsuccessful. In November 2022, the Council moved the family back into Property 1, after the repairs and infestation issues were resolved. The family remain living there to date.
44. The Council has an immediate and non-deferrable statutory duty to provide suitable accommodation to homeless households owed the main housing duty. Despite its best efforts, the Council could not meet this duty to Ms X. This service failure was fault.
45. Due to the Council’s fault (service failure), Ms X and her family have lived in unsuitable accommodation since July 2021 and this has continued to date. I am satisfied that the Council now has a plan in place with Ms X’s landlord to purchase the family a property that meets their needs. However in recognition of the injustice caused, and the ongoing injustice to the family, I have also recommended a financial remedy.

Back to top

Agreed action

46. Within one month of the date of the final decision, the Council has agreed to:
1. Apologise to Ms X for the injustice caused by the faults in this case;
2. Pay Ms X £13,580 to recognise the almost two and a half years, she and her family spent in unsuitable accommodation, including the twenty six weeks beyond the statutory timeframe that the family spent in bed and breakfast accommodation. This total includes an estimate for quantifiable loss of purchasing takeaway food for the family; and
3. Pay Ms X £200 a month beginning and inclusive of December 2023, until the Council offers suitable alternative accommodation or otherwise ends its main housing duty.
47. Within three months of the date of the final decision, the Council has agreed to:
1. Review how it responds to reports of disrepair made by residents in temporary accommodation and remind its housing staff that this is an important part of keeping the suitability of the temporary accommodation it provides under review.
48. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Final decision

49. I have completed my investigation. I have found fault leading to injustice and the Council has agreed to apologise, pay a financial remedy and carry out a service improvement.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman