Summary: Ms X complained about the way the Council ended her temporary accommodation and that her belongings were disposed of. Ms X said she has lost most of her personal belongings. We found the Council at fault for how it ended Ms X’s temporary accommodation and for how it responded to her requests for help with her belongings. The Council agreed to apologise to Ms X make a payment to her to recognise the avoidable distress and anxiety she experienced and carry out service improvements.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the way the Council ended her temporary accommodation and that after she was discharged from hospital, her belongings had been disposed of.

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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. 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)
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. I have not investigated or made a finding about whether the Council is liable for damages for the loss of Ms X’s belongings. Ms X has the option to make a legal claim against the Council to decide this. The court, rather than the Ombudsman, is the appropriate body to determine issues of liability and any compensation for loss of possessions.
6. I have investigated whether the Council properly considered if it had a duty to protect Ms X’s belongings and what steps it took.

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How I considered this complaint

7. As part of this investigation I considered the information provided by Ms X and the Council. I made enquiries with the Council and considered the information received in response. I sent a draft of this decision to Ms X and the Council and considered comments received in response.

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What I found

Homelessness

8. 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.
9. A council must secure interim accommodation for an applicant and their household if it has reason to believe the applicant may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need. (Housing Act 1996, section 188)
10. 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)
11. 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. Interim and temporary accommodation can be the same physical property. What changes is the legal duty under which a council provides it.
12. 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)

Protection of property

13. Councils have a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent the loss of a person’s property, or to mitigate damage, when it has reason to believe:
• there is danger the applicant’s personal property will be lost or damaged;
• the danger arises because the applicant is unable to protect it or deal with it; and
• no other suitable arrangements have been made.
14. This duty applies when the authority is, or has been, subject to the main housing duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 211)
15. A danger of loss or damage to personal property means that there is a likelihood of harm, not just that harm is a possibility. Applicants may be unable to protect their property if, for example, they are ill or are unable to afford to have it stored themselves. (Homelessness Code of Guidance chapter 20)
16. In order to protect an applicant’s personal property, a council can enter, at all reasonable times, the applicant’s current or former home, and deal with the property in any way which seems reasonably necessary. (Housing Act 1996, section 212(1))
17. Where a council does take steps to protect personal property it must take reasonable care of it and deliver it to the owner when reasonably requested to do so. Councils may find it helpful to take a log of the applicant’s personal property as part of this process. (Homelessness Code of Guidance chapter 20)
18. An applicant can request the council move their property to a particular location. If the council considers that the request is reasonable, they may discharge their responsibilities under section 211 by doing as the applicant asks. Where such a request is met, a council will have no further duty or power to protect the applicant’s property, and it must inform the applicant of this consequence before complying with the request. (Housing Act 1996, section 212(2))
19. Councils may impose conditions on the assistance they provide such as making a reasonable charge for storage of property and reserving the right to dispose of property in certain circumstances specified by the council – e.g. if the applicant loses touch with them and cannot be traced after a certain period. (Housing Act 1996, section 211(4))
20. Where a request to move personal property to another location is either not made or not carried out, the duty or power to take any action under section 211 ends when the council believes there is no longer any danger of loss or damage to the property because of the applicant’s inability to deal with or protect it. This may be the case, for example, where an applicant recovers from illness or finds accommodation where they are able to place their possessions. (Housing Act 1996, section 212(3))
21. Where a council ceases to be under a duty, or ceases to have a power, to protect an applicant’s personal property under section 211, it must notify the applicant of this and give the reasons for it. The notification must be delivered to the applicant or sent to the applicant’s last known address. (Housing Act 1996, section 212(5))

What happened

22. There has been extensive correspondence between Ms X, her representative at the hospital and the Council about this matter. In this section of the statement I summarise key events but I do not refer to every single contact and communication.
23. Ms X suffers from a serious medical condition which means she regularly spends time in hospital.
24. In 2021, Ms X applied as homeless and the Council placed her into interim accommodation. In September 2021, the Council decided it owed Ms X the main housing duty. She remained in her interim accommodation, however this became temporary accommodation as the Council decided it owed her the main housing duty.
25. In early April 2023, Ms X was admitted into hospital and left her temporary accommodation. At first Ms X’s homelessness caseworker asked the Council’s accommodation team not to end this accommodation given Ms X’s particular medical needs.
26. On 19 April 2023, the Council decided to end Ms X’s temporary accommodation. This was because the hospital told the Council Ms X was acutely unwell and she would be staying there for a long time. Management in the Council’s Housing Team made this decision. Internal Council emails showed the Council considered it had a duty to ensure Ms X’s belongings were not at risk of loss or damage. The Council agreed to see if Ms X’s next of kin could arrange storage of her possessions. If not, the Council said it would look at storing Ms X’s belongings.
27. The Council’s emergency accommodation team also sent Ms X a letter under the Torts Act 1977 giving her notice that the temporary accommodation provider would dispose of her possessions. In response to this Ms X’s housing adviser at the Council contacted the accommodation provider and agreed for it to hold onto Ms X’s belongings for a short time while the Council arranged storage.
28. Throughout May 2023, the case notes showed Ms X’s housing adviser at the Council tried internally to try to arrange for the Council to store Ms X’s possessions. They also arranged for the accommodation provider to keep storing Ms X’s possessions. The Council did find out Ms X had a friend who was visiting her at hospital. The Council offered Ms X accommodation through its housing register and planned to move her possessions to this property once the Council had redecorated it.
29. In late May 2023, Ms X spoke to her housing adviser at the Council and said her friend could not arrange transport and storage of her belongings. Ms X’s housing adviser made management in the Housing Team aware of this.
30. In early June 2023, it became clear there could be issues about the suitability of the accommodation the Council offered Ms X through its housing register. Ms X’s housing adviser had given the details of Ms X’s temporary accommodation provider to the hospital staff where Ms X was. Ms X’s friend agreed to collect a small number of valuables for Ms X to have in hospital.
31. In mid-June 2023, the Council withdrew the direct offer of accommodation it made through its housing register. This was because the property did not have direct lift access.
32. Ms X remained in hospital. In November 2023, the Council made Ms X a further direct offer of accommodation through its housing register. Ms X accepted this offer in December 2023, and left hospital in January 2024.
33. In early January 2024, hospital staff made Ms X aware the accommodation provider had disposed of Ms X’s possessions.

Ms X’s complaint

34. Ms X complained to the Council in early February 2024 about the way it evicted her from her accommodation and that it disposed of her possessions.
35. The Council provided its stage one complaint response in mid-February 2024. The Council said:
• When people go into hospital it ends that accommodation to free up space for emergency accommodation. After someone comes out of hospital the Council rebooks them into new emergency accommodation. In Ms X’s case the Council said the hospital told it she would be in hospital for a long time. Because of this the Council decided to discharge her from the accommodation and re-book her into accommodation once her stay at hospital ended.
• There was a clause in her licence agreement which said the Council was not responsible for loss of belongings if Ms X left the accommodation.
• When it discharged Ms X from her accommodation it recognised she could not remove her belongings so spoke with the accommodation provider and arranged for it to keep her belongings for April and May 2023. In late May 2023, it believed Ms X’s friend and the hospital were speaking with the accommodation provider to arrange for the removal of her belongings.
36. In late March 2024, Ms X asked the Council to consider her complaint at the next stage of its complaints process. Ms X said she did not believe the decision to evict her was legal and she was in no position to remove her belongings. Ms X said her friend did go and collect some valuable items but the temporary accommodation provider did not give her friend all the items she was expecting.
37. The Council provided its final response in early May 2024. The Council said:
• It had discussed ending Ms X’s accommodation with its legal team and should have provided her with a 28 day notice. The Council apologised for this but said it did not believe this would have changed the result of the eviction as Ms X was in hospital for such a long time.
• The accommodation provider gave Ms X’s friend until 5 June 2023 to collect her belongings but Ms X’s friend disputes this. The Council said this is the accommodation provider’s word against Ms X’s friends word and it cannot determine what happened.
38. Ms X remained dissatisfied and complained to the Ombudsman.

Findings

Ms X’s eviction

39. After Ms X went into hospital the Council decided it would remove her from the accommodation so it could offer this to someone else. The Council has recognised after seeking legal advice it should have provided Ms X with a 28 day notice. Failure to do so was fault.
40. I do not consider this has caused Ms X any personal injustice. This is because she was in hospital for over nine months. Ms X’s hospital stay would not have ended in time for her to move back into the accommodation, even if the Council carried out the eviction in the correct way.
41. This does have the potential to cause injustice to others in a similar situation. The case notes the Council provided contained internal Council emails which showed the Council would routinely end this type of accommodation if a person went into hospital. In fact one email showed the accommodation service team would not keep accommodation open for over a week if a person went into hospital.

Protection of Ms X’s belongings

42. From the internal emails between Council staff I am satisfied the Council decided it had a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent the loss of Ms X’s property. The Council also told the hospital where Ms X was staying that it would arrange to store her belongings. At first, the Council took steps to protect Ms X’s property by negotiating with the accommodation provider to keep hold of Ms X’s belongings until the Council found suitable storage for her.
43. During this time it was clear the accommodation provider could not keep Ms X’s belongings. Ms X told the Council in a telephone call her friend could not help with the storage of her belongings. The case notes showed Ms X’s housing adviser contacted different members of staff at the Council to try to arrange storage of Ms X’s possessions, however no one seemed to know the relevant person or team who could arrange storage of Ms X’s belongings.
44. It is not clear what happened after early June 2023. The Council has since said it believed Ms X’s friend and the hospital were speaking to the accommodation provider about the removal of her belongings, however I have not seen evidence of this. If this was the case the Council should have told Ms X it would no longer be taking steps to protect her belongings and provided her with its reasons. I have seen no evidence the Council did this. This was fault. For the above reasons, I am satisfied on balance the Council knew Ms X could not arrange for storage of her belongings due to being seriously ill in hospital and did not have anyone who could do this for her, therefore it should have arranged to store Ms X’s belongings.
45. I find the Council was at fault in failing to respond to Ms X’s requests for help with her belongings. The Council should make a symbolic payment to Ms X for the avoidable distress caused. I did not recommend a payment in respect of the value of the lost belongings. Loss of personal property is a legal issue and it is open to Ms X to issue proceedings against the Council for compensation or make an insurance claim.

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Agreed action

46. Within one month of my final decision the Council agreed to carry out the following:
• Apologise to Ms X for the above faults.
• Pay Ms X £500 to recognise the avoidable distress and anxiety she experienced as a result of the way the Council responded to her request to help store her belongings.
• Provide guidance to staff about who or what team they need to contact to arrange for the storage of a person’s possessions.
47. Within three months of my final decision the Council agreed to carry out the following:
• Develop a policy or guidance for staff setting out the correct way interim and temporary accommodation should be ended. The Council should ensure it sets out:
1. The correct notice a person should receive depending on the type of accommodation they occupy.
2. Whether there is a need to apply to court for possession and eviction.
3. How those who have stayed in the same accommodation after the main housing duty has been accepted should be treated.
48. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

49. I have completed my investigation and found the Council was at fault and this caused injustice to Ms X. The Council agreed to the above actions to remedy the injustice caused.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman