Summary: Mrs X complains the Council did not deal properly with her homelessness and temporary accommodation. The Council did not properly apply its policy in relation to compensation. Mrs X suffered avoidable distress because she was offered an inappropriate remedy. The Council should apologise and make a symbolic payment to Mrs X.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complains the Council did not deal properly with her housing because it failed to properly deal with a complaint about lack of hot water and heating in temporary accommodation provided by the Council and has left her placed in unsuitable accommodation.
2. Mrs X complains she was left in unsuitable housing and suffered financial loss.

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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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), 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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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Law, guidance and policies

7. 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)

The Council’s Housing Compensation Policy

8. Compensation is payable in relation to the loss of heating or hot water when the loss in supply lasts for three consecutive days or more (or in excess of 24 hours for vulnerable tenants), or there is a loss in supply three or more times within a consecutive three-month period.
9. Compensation will be paid to cover increased electrical costs experienced by customers from using alternative methods of heating (such as storage heaters) or generating hot water (boiling kettles) during periods when their landlord-controlled heating or hot water supply is unavailable.
10. Compensation will be based on a flat rate of £7.50 x number of days that the loss persisted, with a 25% uplift applied to the total figure for each bedroom beyond the 1st i.e., if a three-bed property experiences a loss of heating for 21 days, the calculation would be £7.50 (base rate) x 21 (no of days) x 150% = £236.25.
11. An additional £7.50 a week, after the first three consecutive weeks, will also be paid to each household to reflect the resident(s) time and trouble. For vulnerable residents, payments will be £15.00 per week paid after the first week.

What happened?

12. This is a brief chronology of key events. It does not contain everything I reviewed during my investigation.
13. Mrs X lived in temporary accommodation provided through the Council, sourced from a private landlord. She was on the property transfer list due to the property owner requesting it to be handed back.
14. In October 2024, Mrs X’s hot water and heating boiler had a problem and was issued with a gas safety warning notice which stated it was dangerous and not to be used.
15. The repair to Mrs X’s boiler was completed three days later.
16. Mrs X complained to the Council. The Council offered her a small financial payment.
17. Mrs X escalated her complaint to stage 2, saying the Council’s complaint response had an inaccuracy and said the financial offer was inadequate. The Council accepted the initial complaint response contained an error, but said Mrs X was in private sector accommodation and directed her to her landlord in respect of further compensation.

Analysis

18. During my investigation the Council said:
• It awarded £9.38 to Mrs X for 72 hours without heating and hot water while the landlord organised the repairs to reinstate the heating.
• It accepted that the property was occupied as temporary accommodation allocated by the Council and not as private sector accommodation.
19. The Council has accepted that the period on question without heating and hot water was 72 hours, which is three full days.
20. Mrs X has since vacated the property and moved to other accommodation.
21. According to the Council’s compensation policy, for a period of 72 hours without heating, Mrs X should have been awarded £7.50 multiplied by 3 days, plus any percentage uplift for additional bedrooms, plus any compensation for increased electrical costs.
22. Mrs X has asked for an increased financial remedy to cover food costs and energy bills. Mrs X says, “We had to leave the property and go to hospital. We had no gas to cook so had to get takeaway and no heating so had electric heaters which is so expensive.” I have not seen any evidence to show any calculable financial loss in respect of increased energy usage for that period of time the boiler was unusable.
23. The financial remedy offered to Mrs X was insufficient. This is fault by the Council. Mrs X suffered avoidable distress and some unquantifiable financial loss.

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Action

24. To remedy the outstanding injustice caused by the fault I have identified, the Council should take the following action within 4 weeks of my final decision:
• Apologise to Mrs X for the fault found. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Pay Mrs X £150 in respect of avoidable distress and financial loss in relation to failure to offer a suitable remedy in accordance with its housing compensation policy.
25. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

26. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman