Summary: We found no fault on Mrs Y’s complaint about the Council failing to move her to permanent accommodation. She was on its housing register but failed to bid for properties which became available. While the Council failed to show it told her it had discharged the full housing duty it owed, this caused no injustice to her. This was because the tenancy agreement she signed did not include the Council as the landlord, but a private limited company.

The complaint

1. Mrs Y complains about the Council failing to:
1. move her to permanent accommodation for many years from temporary accommodation;
2. tell her it had discharged its homeless duty to her in 2022; and
3. carry out repairs to the accommodation.
2. As a result, she and her partner, who both have health problems, remain in a property she cannot afford, and had no help finding suitable, alternative accommodation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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)
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. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)
7. When considering complaints, we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means we look at the available relevant evidence and decide what was more likely to have happened.

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What I have and have not investigated

8. I have not investigated complaint c). This was because we do not have the jurisdiction to investigate complaints about disrepair. Disrepairs are considered to be 'the provision and management of social housing' which is now within the jurisdiction of the Housing Ombudsman.
9. I have only investigated Mrs Y’s complaint about allocations from August 2023. This was because she complained to us in August 2024 and the law says we cannot investigate late complaints. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done.
10. I investigated her complaint about not being told it had ended the homeless duty in 2022 because she said was unaware of this decision until recently.

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How I considered this complaint

11. I considered evidence provided by Mrs Y, the notes I made of our telephone conversations, the Council’s response to my enquiries, as well as relevant law, policy, and guidance. I sent a copy of my draft decision to Mrs Y and the Council. I considered their responses.

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What I found

Homelessness law

12. If a council is satisfied an applicant is homeless, eligible for assistance, and has a priority need, the council has a duty to make accommodation available (unless it refers the application to another housing authority under section 198). Councils will not owe the main housing duty to applicants who have turned down a suitable final accommodation offer, or a Housing Act Part 6 offer made during the relief stage, or if a council has given them notice under section 193B(2) due to their deliberate and unreasonable refusal to co-operate. (Housing Act 1996, section 193 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 15.39)

Housing allocations

13. Every local housing authority must publish an allocations scheme that sets out how it prioritises applicants, and its procedures for allocating housing. All allocations must be made in strict accordance with the published scheme. (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(1) & (14))

Council Housing Allocation Scheme (2020 as amended in 2024)

14. The Council expects everyone given priority to bid for a home when a suitable one becomes available. If no bids are placed, an officer will contact them to find out why. If an applicant is not bidding, it will offer help and support and if they still do not place bids, the Council will remove them from the register after six months and cancel the application.
15. It will make a direct offer when it matches a household to a suitable home. No bid for it is needed. It is to help those who need to find a home urgently or have been unable to find a home themselves.
16. Where a direct offer is refused, the Council will cancel the application and will make no further offers of accommodation where an applicant refuses, or is considered to refuse, two offers of a home.
17. The Council uses a points system for assessing applications. For households who became homeless before 9 November 2012, they are entitled to one direct offer of suitable accommodation. Where a family moves into the private rented sector, they will increase their points to 750 and be allowed to choose which properties to bid for under its choice-based lettings system.
18. Points are awarded for Health and Wellbeing where there is a long-term health and wellbeing issue which is affected by the current housing.
19. It will assess the number of bedrooms a household needs and compare this to what they have already. It counts rooms as a bedroom, except bathrooms, kitchens, and utility rooms, or one living room. Bedroom entitlement includes:

• One bedroom for the applicant and spouse/partner;
• One bedroom for any two additional people of the same sex;
• Additional bedrooms will be allowed where: sharing with another family member whose care needs or behavioural problems severely affect the applicant’s ability to sleep; where grandparents and grandchildren would otherwise be sharing; where the applicant or household member needs overnight care; where the applicant or household member needs major medical equipment for the long term.

20. Health and wellbeing priority is considered where an applicant or household member, has a long-term health and wellbeing issue which is affected by their current housing.

What happened

21. Mrs Y complained she was in temporary accommodation for more than 23 years. She lived in temporary accommodation (property 1) with her husband and two children (now aged 19 and 11).
22. The Council confirmed it accepted a homeless duty to her in 2005 and placed her on the housing needs register.
23. In March 2022, the Council offered her another property (property 2) as the landlord was evicting her from property 1. The Council said it wrote offering her property 2 saying:

• it was a three-bedroom house in ‘the Private Rented Sector.’ It was, in fact, a two-bedroom property.
• it made this ‘offer of privately rented accommodation in discharge of its housing duty under section 193 (7AA) of the Housing Act 1996’.
• property 2 had to be suitable for her and in reaching its decision that it was, the Council considered whether the rent was affordable for her, its physical condition, its location, and the significance of any disruption the move would cause her.
• if she accepted or refused property 2, the duty the Council owed her would immediately end. It explained she had the right to ask for a review of its decision about the suitability of property 2. It also went on to explain should she become homeless again within two years of accepting property 2, she would not need to make a fresh homeless application.

24. The copy of this letter I have seen does not have Mrs Y’s address on it. Despite asking the Council for evidence of it addressing and posting this letter to her, or sending it by email, it failed to provide it.
25. Mrs Y signed a tenancy agreement for property 2. The Council was not listed as a party she was renting it from. She was renting it from Housing Gateway Limited (trading as Enfield Let) which was wholly owned by the Council. It was registered as a private limited company.
26. While Mrs Y believed the Council still owed her a housing duty, and she was in temporary accommodation, it explained in 2024 that this was not correct. This was because when she accepted the privately rented property, it discharged its homeless duty to her. Mrs Y argued she was not told she was accepting private accommodation.
27. Miss Y asked the Council to assess her for a three bedroom house because they needed the extra space due to her partner’s health issues. The Council asked her for details of her partner, including when he moved in with her. It would then need medical information from her. She was urged to place bids on properties.
28. Since March 2022, she has not bid for any properties under the housing allocation scheme. The Council explained it was likely that had she bid, she would have been successful. This was because between April 2023 and September 2024, 66 families with less points than here were rehoused after bidding.
29. She has now built up rent arrears. The Council explained the arrears happened because the rent for property 2 increased to a level above the Local Housing Allowance. This allowance is decided by the Department for Work and Pensions and is based on private market rents being paid within the area a person might reasonably be expected to live. When it was originally rented to her, it was at the allowance level and considered affordable based on the income declared.
30. In a letter to Mrs Y in October 2024, the Council referred to her as a Council tenant. This was incorrect as an earlier letter sent that month explained to her that she was in the private rented sector. She was also told she had 750 points under its housing allocation scheme.
31. She completed a Health and Wellbeing Assessment in February 2025. The Recommendations Form is dated the same month. This listed all the medical evidence she sent dating back 2020 to 2023. It made no recommendations and noted she could live on any floor level without a lift. Nor did it decide an extra bedroom was essential. It concluded she could live in any type of property with her medical evidence.
32. She is eligible to bid for two bedroom properties which she thinks insufficient for their needs. The Council made her an offer of a direct let which she refused saying she could not afford the rent. It confirmed she could not bid where an offer of accommodation is outstanding. Her application was suspended because of the offer but, she could not have been able to bid anyway as she was set up for direct offers. While it accepted the family was not contacted specifically about the failure to bid under its policy, there was contact with the housing allocation team about her application.
33. It had agreed to consider the family for a direct offer of a three-bedroom property.

My findings

Complaint a): failure to move her to permanent accommodation

34. I found the following on this complaint:
1. The Council said she has 750 points under its allocation scheme. I am satisfied this was calculated correctly under the Council’s allocation policy. This was because the policy said she was entitled to this number of points as she became homeless before 9 November 2012. I found no fault with the points awarded to her.
2. I am also satisfied the Council correctly calculated her bedroom entitlement. This was because she was entitled to one bedroom for her and her partner and one bedroom for any two additional people of the same sex, which covered her sons. They do not qualify for their own bedrooms under its policy.
3. There was no evidence of Miss Y bidding for properties under the Council’s allocation scheme. This means I was unable to assess whether any bids were properly assessed for the simple reason she had not made any. I therefore found no fault on this complaint.

Complaint b): failure to tell her it discharged homeless duty

35. I found fault on this complaint for the following reasons:
1. The Council was unable to provide evidence of sending the March 2022 letter to Mrs Y. The copy it sent had no address on it so clearly was not posted in that format. The Council failed to show it sent it by email.
2. On balance, I am not satisfied it was sent to her because there was no evidence to support what the Council said it did. This was fault.
3. I am not satisfied this caused Mrs Y a significant injustice. This is because of the tenancy agreement she signed in March 2022. This did not list the Council as a party to the contract. It also warned if she had any doubt about any content of the agreement, she should seek independent legal advice before signing it. The party which signed the agreement was listed as a private limited company. This means it was a separate legal entity from the Council.

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Decision

36. I found the following on Mrs Y’s complaint against the Council:

• Complaint a): no fault; and
• Complaint b): fault causing no injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman