Summary: Miss X complained about the way the Council dealt with her housing register and homelessness applications. We did not find fault with how it made a decision on her living situation. We found the Council at fault for not issuing a written decision notice when it decided she was not homeless or threatened with homelessness. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to remedy the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the Council's handling of her housing situation, and it has not assisted her after making several homeless applications when she has asked for help. She says as the Council has failed to support or move her, she and her family have remained in a property with another tenant where they feel unsafe. This has caused significant frustration, distress, and inconvenience for several months.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, 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)

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What I have and have not investigated

5. My investigation considers events from May 2023 to April 2024.
6. The Council has made a legal housing decision with the prevention duty since Miss X complained to us (which comes with certain rights and responsibilities). Therefore, I consider matters (even if linked) arising after this should be treated as new issues for the Council to address. If Miss X is dissatisfied with events since April 2024, she is entitled to raise a new complaint directly to the Council about these further concerns and complete its complaints process. If she remains dissatisfied, she can complain to us.

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information Miss X provided and her views.
8. I made enquiries of the Council and considered its written responses and information it provided.
9. 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

Law and administrative background

10. 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.
11. 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)

12. Someone is homeless if they have no accommodation or if they have accommodation, but it is not reasonable for them and anyone who lives with them to continue to live there. (Housing Act 1996, Section 175)
13. If someone contacts a council seeking accommodation or help to obtain accommodation and gives ‘reason to believe’ they ‘may be’ homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days, the council has a duty to make inquiries into what, if any, further duty it owes them. The threshold for triggering the duty to make inquiries is low. (Housing Act 1996, section 184 and Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraphs 6.2 and 18.5)
14. Applications can be made to any department of the local authority and expressed in any particular form; they need not be expressed as explicitly seeking assistance under Part 7. As long as the communication seeks accommodation or assistance in obtaining accommodation and includes details that give the housing authority reason to believe that they might be homeless or threatened with homelessness, this will constitute an application. (Homelessness Code of Guidance 18.5)
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, Homelessness Code of Guidance 18.30)

What happened – summary of key relevant events

16. Miss X lived in house share accommodation. In May 2023, Miss X applied to the Council’s housing register as her landlord sent a letter asking her to vacate soon.
17. Applications 1 and 2 – In both June and early September 2023 respectively, Miss X submitted a homelessness form about her housing situation. The Council tried to contact Miss X by phone after each submission, but the Council did not get a response.
18. Application 3 - At the end of September 2023, Miss X submitted another form. Her landlord had moved a new tenant in. She had safety concerns with them as she had a young baby. The Council contacted Miss X. At the Council’s request, Miss X sent a copy of her lodger licence agreement and the letter received from her landlord.
19. Miss X raised concerns about the tenant’s behaviour in the communal areas. She did not feel safe or want her baby around this. She said her health visitor said it was not suitable for a baby. The Council advised her that as the landlord did not live there, it was classed as an Assured Shorthold Tenancy.
20. The Council confirmed with Miss X that she had locks on her bedroom doors and the tenant had not made threats towards her or damaged their property. It decided as the tenant was not doing anything to them or their property, and she had not received a valid Section 21 notice, that she was not homeless or threatened with homelessness. It said if she received a valid notice or supporting letters, it could review her circumstances. It closed her case.
21. Application 4 - In mid-October 2023, Miss X submitted another form. Her landlord still wanted her to leave. The tenant also remained there. The Council tried to contact Miss X by phone but did not get a response.
22. Application 5 - At the end of November 2023, Miss X submitted another form. Miss X provided another letter from the landlord asking her to leave. The Council contacted Miss X to say it was not a valid Section 21 notice and so she was not threatened with homelessness. It closed her case.
23. In December 2023, Miss X formally complained to the Council. She had chased a number of times as her housing register application from May 2023 had not yet been processed. She repeated concerns with the tenant. She escalated her complaint to Stage Two in January 2024.
24. The Council responded. It said there was some delay in uploading documents onto her account due to changes to its IT system. It later received a copy of her baby’s birth certificate in autumn and backdated her priority date to this. It was only at that point when her baby was born that she qualified for the register due to overcrowding. It confirmed her housing register application was now complete. It placed her into a band based on the circumstances of her housing need. It said she should report her concerns about the tenant to the landlord or police.
25. In January and February 2024, Council records show Miss X raised some further general concerns about the tenant.
26. In mid-March 2024, Miss X emailed the Council. She asked for help as her living situation was getting worse and the tenant’s behaviour escalated. The Council sent a final response. It maintained its position. It acknowledged her frustration but said it could take a long time for a successful bid on a property due to high levels of demand compared to availability.
27. Application 6 – the same day, Miss X submitted another form as she had received a Section 21 notice from her landlord.
28. Miss X then complained to us.

Events since Miss X’s complaint to us

29. In April 2024, the Council accepted the prevention duty to Miss X.
30. In October 2024, Miss X said to me she had accepted an offer of housing from the Council and has since moved address.
31. In response to my enquiries and previous draft decision, the Council said with Application 3, in order to establish if there was risk which could mean that it was unreasonable for Miss X to continue to occupy her property, it had asked her the wider picture of circumstances. It said, apart from a dislike of the tenant’s behaviour, it decided she was not living in an environment where there was risk to Miss X or her child. It noted it did not receive supporting letters from Miss X. It said while Miss X made some further reports about her living situation, these were not enough to meet the threshold for a new decision on whether it was reasonable for her to continue to occupy.
32. When Miss X made the further submission about the tenant’s behaviour and receiving a valid notice in March 2024, the Council said this triggered it to progress her application and then it owed her the prevention duty.

Analysis

Housing Register

33. Part of Miss X’s complaint to us related to her housing register application, the banding she received, and request for a review. There was notable delay with this application and Miss X chased a number of times. This is fault. However, there was no significant injustice in relation to the delayed outcome of the housing register application as she only qualified in autumn 2023 after her baby’s birth. The Council also appropriately backdated her application to this point.
34. With the banding, the Council does not have graded bandings. Banding relates to an applicant’s housing need and circumstances, with priority set by time on the register. It considered she met the criteria for the band she was in. There is no fault in the Council’s decision with her banding.
35. However, the housing register route can be a lengthy process for long term accommodation. Given the nature of Miss X’s wish to be rehoused due to safety concerns as the heart of the matter, it is more relevant to consider the Council’s homelessness duties here.

Homelessness Applications and Decisions

36. Miss X submitted several homelessness forms to the Council about her housing situation. With Applications 1 and 2, the Council was not able to make contact with Miss X. With Application 3, the Council contacted Miss X and made enquiries. It received a copy of her landlord’s letter and asked Miss X about the other tenant’s behaviour. At this point, it decided she was not homeless or threatened with homelessness. Under the Homelessness Code of Guidance (referred to in Paragraph 15), it should have issued a formal letter with this decision and given her review rights. Its failure to do so is fault. This caused frustration to Miss X and denied her a statutory right of appeal.

Reasonable to Continue to Occupy

37. We are not an appeal body. Our role is not to decide what decisions an organisation should have made, or whether it was right or wrong. Instead, we look at whether there was fault in how it made its decisions. If we decide there was no fault in how it did so, we cannot question the professional merits of the decision it reached, no matter how much a complainant may disagree with it.
38. Miss X had concerns about the tenant her landlord moved into the property. She first raised this in Application 3 in October 2023. Someone can be legally homeless if it is not reasonable to remain in their current accommodation. The Council’s records for Application 3 show the Council took into account relevant information, made enquiries with Miss X about the tenant’s actions and then how it decided she was not homeless on these grounds.
39. Although the Council did not follow the right process and issue a written decision (referred to in Paragraph 36), it asked relevant questions about risk and safety and then reached its own view on whether it was reasonable to continue to occupy. It decided it was. It turned its mind to the appropriate question, and this is a decision the Council is entitled to make. While I appreciate Miss X may strongly disagree, I do not find fault in the decision making process so I cannot question the outcome.

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Agreed action

40. To remedy the injustice set out above, the Council has agreed to carry out the following actions within one month of the final decision:
• Apologise to Miss X (in line with our guidance on making an effective apology) for the injustice caused for the fault identified, and pay her a symbolic payment of £150 to recognise her frustration and withholding her appeal rights.
41. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

42. I found some fault with the Council which caused injustice to Miss X. The Council has agreed with my recommendations to remedy this, and I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman