Summary: The Council was at fault in its handling of Miss X's homelessness. The Council's delay finding accommodation when Miss X had to leave her private tenancy and when a review found her temporary accommodation was unsuitable was the result of service failure and despite the Council's efforts. The Council's failure to properly assess the needs of Miss X's Disabled child, its poor communication and complaint handling were fault. The Council has agreed to apologise and make payments to Miss X in recognition of the injustice caused and act to improve its services.

The complaint

1. Mr Z complained on behalf of Miss X about the Council's handling of Miss X's homelessness. In particular, that the Council:
1. took too long to provide interim or temporary accommodation when her landlord sought possession of her tenancy;
2. did not properly or promptly assess the family's housing needs, specifically those of her Disabled child, Y;
3. wrongly advised her to put her belongings into storage months before she moved;
4. provided unsuitable temporary accommodation in July 2023;
5. delayed providing alternative accommodation when a review found the temporary accommodation was unsuitable; and
6. communicated poorly and delayed responding to her complaint.
2. As a result, Miss X spent months without any furniture waiting to move and then months in unsuitable accommodation. This caused her avoidable distress and uncertainty and particularly impacted on the wellbeing of her Disabled child.

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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. 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)
5. 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 has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
6. 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

7. Miss X's complaint covers matters starting in summer 2022. This means parts of the complaint are late. I have exercised discretion to investigate because I consider there were good reasons Miss X could not complain to us sooner. She was homeless and caring for a Disabled child as a lone parent, she reasonably allowed the Council time to find her suitable accommodation, and neither she nor her representative allowed the matter to rest. Miss X brought the complaint to us promptly after the Council completed the complaint process.
8. I have not investigated the complaint at d) above. Miss X used her statutory right to review this decision. This was the appropriate route to challenge the suitability of the accommodation.

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How I considered this complaint

9. I considered the complaint and the information Mr Z provided.
10. I made written enquiries of the Council and considered its response along with relevant law and guidance.
11. I referred to the Ombudsman's guidance on remedies, a copy of which can be found on our website.
12. Miss X and the organisation 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 duties

13. 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.
14. Councils must complete an assessment if they are satisfied an applicant is homeless or threatened with homelessness. Councils must notify the applicant of the assessment. This assessment must include:
1. The circumstances that have caused them to become homeless or threatened with homelessness
2. Their housing needs
3. Their support needs (Housing Act 1996, section 189A and Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraphs 11.7)
15. If councils are satisfied applicants are threatened with homelessness and eligible for assistance, they must help them to secure that accommodation does not stop being available for their occupation. This is called 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)
16. If councils are satisfied applicants are homeless and eligible for assistance, they must take reasonable steps to secure accommodation. This is called the relief duty. When a council decides this duty has come to an end, it must notify the applicant in writing. The relief duty usually lasts 56 days. (Housing Act 1996, section 189B)
17. If, at the end of the relief duty, 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. (Housing Act 1996, section 193)

Interim and temporary accommodation

18. There are two types of accommodation councils provide to certain homeless applicants.
19. 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)
20. 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)
21. The law says councils must ensure all accommodation provided to homeless applicants is suitable for the needs of the applicant and members of his or her household.  This duty applies to interim and temporary accommodation.  (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.2)
22. Councils must assess whether accommodation is suitable for each household individually. Whether accommodation is suitable will depend on the relevant needs, requirements and circumstances of the homeless person and their household. (Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.4 & 17.9)
23. The duty to provide suitable accommodation is immediate, non-deferrable, and unqualified. (Elkundi, R (On the Application Of) v Birmingham City Council [2022] EWCA Civ 601)
24. Certain decisions councils make about homelessness carry a statutory right of review. The review decision then carries a right of appeal to court on a point of law. Homeless applicants have a right to review the suitability of temporary accommodation provided under the main homelessness duty. (Housing Act 1996, s202)

Ending private tenancies

25. Where a tenant has an assured shorthold tenancy, the landlord can issue a section 21 notice asking the tenant to leave. They do not have to give reasons, but the notice needs to be in a specific form and must satisfy various conditions.
26. In some cases, the landlord can evict without a court hearing – this is called “accelerated possession”. They do need to apply to the court and the tenant can challenge the application. The court will look at the papers and either:
• issue a “possession order” – this sets a date at which the tenant has to leave; or
• set a date for a possession hearing; or
• dismiss the case.
27. If the tenant does not leave the property by the date given in the possession order, the landlord can apply for a “warrant for possession”. If the court issues a warrant, it will send the tenant an eviction notice with the date they must leave the property by. A bailiff can evict the tenant if they do not leave by that date.

Housing allocations

28. Every local housing authority must publish an allocations scheme that sets out how it prioritises housing applicants, and its procedures for allocating properties.  All allocations must be made in strict accordance with the published scheme. (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(1) & (14))
29. The Council operates a choice-based lettings scheme. This means housing applicants can express an interest in available properties. This is called bidding.
30. The Council places applicants who qualify to join the housing register in a priority band from Band 1 (highest priority) to Band 4 (lowest priority). This priority is the first factor the Council uses to allocate a property.
31. So far as is relevant to this complaint the Council awards:
• Band 1 to applicants who need to move for urgent medical reasons or who have an exceptional and urgent need to be rehoused.
• Band 2 to applicants who are homeless and owed the main housing duty.
• Band 3 to applicants owed the prevention and relief duties.

What happened - homelessness

32. Miss X approached the Council for help with housing in June 2022. She was a tenant of a privately rented property where she lived with her children. The landlord had issued a section 21 notice asking Miss X to leave.
33. The Council assessed Miss X. During the assessment, Miss X told the Council about Y's particular needs arising from their disability.
34. Two weeks later, Miss X contacted the Council to ask for an update. The section 21 notice expired a few days later. Miss X sent another email two weeks later when she did not get a response. The Council accepted the prevention duty in mid-July.
35. At the end of September, the Council accepted the relief duty. This means it was satisfied Miss X was homeless. It wrote to Miss X to say that it may need to place her family in interim accommodation soon. It said Miss X should "start thinking about storage options, as most of the emergency/temporary accommodation is already furnished". Miss X's housing officer met with Y's social worker, who explained Y's needs. In particular, the social worker explained why a hotel or bed and breakfast would not be suitable for Y.
36. In early November, Miss X sent the Council a copy of the court's order granting her landlord possession of the property. Miss X told the Council her belongings were in storage. The Council added Miss X to its housing support register (a list of homeless households in need of accommodation, separate to the housing register for social housing) and said it would liaise with that team "to see if we can avoid hotel provision".
37. The Council also communicated with Miss X's landlord. The landlord agreed to delay applying for a warrant to enforce the possession order while the Council looked for somewhere for Miss X and her family to move.
38. A few days later, the Council identified a property in the area Miss X said she needed to be for Y's school and her work. I will refer to this as Property 1. It was currently occupied, however the Council expected it would be available soon. Although smaller than she needed, Miss X was interested because the property was in a good location. The Council told the landlord about the property, and the landlord agreed to further delay applying for a warrant.
39. In November, Miss X's housing officer also contacted the Health Housing team to ask for as assessment of Y's needs. The officer wrote to Miss X and explained that usually, the Council would have provided interim accommodation by now. However, it was trying to avoid placing them in a hotel because of Y's needs. The officer said they had sent a health and housing form for assessment.
40. The officer also asked the housing support register to consider Miss X for other properties while waiting for Property 1. The Council updated Miss X's landlord.
41. In early December, the Council told Miss X Property 1 was still marked for her but was not yet available. It explained it could look for other interim accommodation, however it could not guarantee where this would be. It said it was waiting for the health and housing form to be assessed. Miss X responded to ask why it was taking so long to assess Y's needs when she had completed the form and provided evidence several months earlier.
42. The Council accepted the main housing duty in early December. This moved Miss X into Band 2 on the housing register. Miss X's housing officer asked if the team could escalate assessment of the health and housing form. The medical team responded the next day. It confirmed that Y needed their own bedroom. Therefore, the family needed a four-bedroom property.
43. In January 2023, the Council contacted Miss X's landlord twice to advise that Property 1 was not yet available.
44. By mid-March, the records show Property 1 was now empty but needed extensive repairs. The Council suggested an alternative property to Miss X. However, this was not suitable for Y's needs.
45. In early April, the Council updated Miss X by email. It said it hoped Property 1 would be available in mid-May.
46. Miss X asked the Council for an update at the end of April. She said: "I really need some definitive answers at this point, I really do not want to go into emergency housing, which is why we’ve been waiting for this to complete, I cannot put [Y] through moving to emergency, then moving again to temporary then moving again to a permanent home". The Council told Miss X it would seek an update about Property 1.
47. In mid-May, the Council told Miss X Property 1 was still not ready. Miss X pointed out she had been paying for storage since October and the family were living on bare mattresses and out of suitcases.
48. By early June, Property 1 still needed extensive works. The Council told Miss X it was withdrawing its offer of Property 1 and would look for somewhere else. Miss X's housing officer asked internally if there was anything the Council could do to improve the family's chances of rehousing. As a result, the Council agreed to backdate Miss X's Band 2 priority by six months.
49. In early July, Miss X accepted an offer of temporary accommodation at Property 2. Mr Z asked the Council for a review of its suitability and suggested the Council consider making a direct offer and/or awarding Band 1 priority. At the end of August, the Council completed the review. It decided the property was not suitable. The review officer told the Council that, in the circumstances, they agreed with the suggestion of awarding Band 1 because otherwise the family "risk being in unsuitable TA long term with long wait for transfer". The next day, the Council awarded Miss X Band 1 priority.
50. Miss X moved to suitable, permanent accommodation in late April 2024.

What happened – complaint handling

51. In September 2023, Miss X's representative complained to the Council that:
• It had failed to properly assess the family's needs and offer suitable temporary accommodation
• As a result of its bad advice, Miss X had experienced avoidable financial loss by paying for storage of her belongings
• The Council had not kept Miss X up to date between October 2022 and May 2023
52. The Council acknowledged the complaint and gave a deadline for a response in early October. The Council did not respond by the deadline.
53. Mr Z chased the Council three times in October for a response. After the third email, the Council told Mr Z it would ask the responsible officer to respond as soon as possible. Ten days later, Mr Z asked to escalate the complaint because the Council still had not responded.
54. The Council responded to the complaint in early November. It said it:
• apologised for its delay responding to the complaint
• kept Miss X fully updated throughout the process
• should have contacted the landlord earlier than it did
• offered Property 1 in good faith
• did not tell Miss X to put her belongings in storage, that was a decision she made herself
55. Mr Z asked the Council to consider the complaint at stage two in late-November. He said:
• Miss X did not know the extent of the works required to Property 1
• The Council had more contact with the landlord than with Miss X
• Although there was no explicit advice to Miss X about storing her belongings, the Council did tell her she would need to do this.
56. In early February 2024, the Council contacted Mr Z to say it would respond to the complaint by 9 February.
57. On 10 February, the Council told Mr Z that it would respond to the complaint by 28 February.
58. On 28 February, the Council told Mr Z that it would send the response on 6 March.
59. On 6 March, the Council responded to the complaint. It said:
• It was sorry for the delay responding to the complaint
• The review process had identified that its initial assessment of Miss X and her family was inaccurate. It had provided feedback to the service about this.
• There was limited temporary accommodation available in the city, especially of the size Miss X needs and near Y's school. While it was not the service's fault there was limited accommodation available, it upheld the complaint.

My findings

60. I set out my findings on the complaint in the order they appear in paragraph one.

Delay providing accommodation

61. The Council was clearly aware of its duty to provide accommodation to Miss X and her family in November 2022. The records show it was actively trying to avoid placing the family in B&B because of the impact this would have on Y. The Council sought to provide accommodation in the area the family needed to access school and work. It accepted this was necessary for accommodation to be suitable for the family. The Council has a duty to ensure that any accommodation it provides under its homelessness duties is suitable.
62. We recognise the difficulties councils face securing accommodation for homeless households. However, the Council failed to provide accommodation in November 2022 when the court granted possession of the property. It did not do so until July 2023, a delay of eight months. This service failure was fault.
63. This caused Miss X significant distress and uncertainty. This is an injustice to Miss X.

Housing needs assessment

64. As the Council accepted in response to the stage two complaint, the Council did not promptly or properly assess Y's needs. This information was essential for the Council to make suitable offers of accommodation and affected the size of property Miss X could bid for on the housing register. The Council should have sent the health and housing form for assessment in June 2022. It did not do so until November. This delay of six months was fault.
65. It is unlikely this affected Miss X's chances of securing permanent housing sooner. However, it meant she had to provide the same information about Y several times and felt their needs were not taken seriously or were ignored. This is an injustice to Miss X.

Storage

66. Miss X put her belongings into storage in October 2022. It is likely she did so following her housing officer's comment in late September that she "needed to start thinking about" this. However, at that point the Council did not have a timescale for a possible move and had not yet identified Property 1. I cannot, therefore, find that the Council's offer of Property 1 led Miss X to store her possessions. Nor did it advise her to do this.
67. Therefore, while it is understandable that Miss X acted to store her possessions to make any move more straightforward and this did not then happen for several months, there is no fault by the Council.

Unsuitable temporary accommodation

68. The Council's review found Property 2 was unsuitable in August 2023. It therefore had an immediate, non-deferrable, and unqualified duty to provide Miss X with suitable alternative accommodation. It did not do so until April 2024. This delay of eight months was fault.
69. However, this was the result of service failure because of the lack of suitable available housing in the area and not lack of effort by the Council. The Council increased Miss X's priority to Band 1 to try and improve her chances of moving sooner. It actively sought properties it could offer Miss X as a direct let to end her homelessness. This demonstrates a pragmatic and person-centred approach which the Ombudsman encourages. It reflects the advice in our guide for practitioners on unsuitable temporary accommodation. We welcome these efforts.
70. Nevertheless, Miss X and her family spent eight months in unsuitable accommodation which did not meet their needs, and particularly those of Y. The evidence shows that at times of distress, Y can pose a physical risk to themself and others. The communal spaces in Property 2 meant Y was a risk to other residents as well as the family. The property was too small, making it harder to manage Y's needs and increasing the impact of Y's behaviour on Miss X's other children. Living in such unsuitable accommodation is a significant injustice.

Communication and complaint handling

71. The Council's communication with Miss X was inconsistent. The records show periods where Miss X's housing officer communicated with her well. The officer was also proactive in seeking to improve Miss X's chances of rehousing, chasing up referrals and seeking updates on Property 1. However, the records also show periods of poor communication:
• Miss X had to chase the Council twice after she first approached.
• There is no evidence of the Council communicating with Miss X at all during the prevention duty until Miss X told the Council about the landlord's application for a possession order
• Miss X's housing officer was off work for 6 weeks and no one communicated with her in their absence, meaning the Council did not communicate with Miss X between early December 2022 and February 2023
72. These failures in communication were fault. This caused Miss X avoidable frustration and distress at an already difficult time. This is an injustice to Miss X.
73. The Council's complaint handling in this case was poor. The stage one response was a month late. This delay was fault. Mr Z had to chase the Council four times before the Council issued the response. We expect councils to keep complainants informed about any delays. The Council's failure to do so was fault.
74. The Council took over three months to respond to the stage two complaint. This was fault. Although the Council communicated with Mr Z about the delay in February 2024, it caused further frustration by repeatedly giving deadlines it then failed to meet.
75. The Council's poor complaint handling put Mr Z to avoidable time and trouble chasing the Council and caused Miss X avoidable frustration. This is an injustice.
76. The Council upheld the complaint at stage two but failed to consider whether it needed to do anything to remedy the injustice to Miss X. This was fault.

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Agreed action

77. To remedy the injustice to Miss X from the faults I have identified, the Council has agreed to:
• Apologise to Miss X and Y in line with our guidance on Making an effective apology;
• Pay Miss X £500 in recognition of her avoidable distress, frustration and uncertainty.
• Pay Miss X a further £200 for each month she spent in unsuitable temporary accommodation, for a total of £1,600.
78. The Council should take this action within four weeks of my final decision.
79. The Council should also take the following action to improve its services:
• Share a copy of this decision with staff in the relevant departments to share the learning and the good practice highlighted by this case.
• Identify and implement a process to enable the Council to pick up and deal with time-sensitive cases when an officer is off sick or on leave.
• Remind staff responsible for responding to complaints that they should keep complainants informed of any delays and provide a new, realistic, deadline response for a response.
• Remind staff responsible for responding to complaints that where the Council upholds the complaint, it should consider what it needs to do to remedy the injustice caused to the complainant.
80. The Council should tell the Ombudsman about the action it has taken within eight weeks of my final decision.

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Final decision

81. I have completed my investigation. There was fault by the Council. The action I have recommended is a suitable remedy for the injustice caused.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman