Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about delays in the Council making a decision on Mr X’s homelessness application. The Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by remedying Mr X’s injustice. Additionally, we will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the suitability of his temporary accommodation because he has a statutory right to request a suitability review of the accommodation and it is reasonable to expect him to use it.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council delayed making a decision on his homelessness application and placed him in unsuitable temporary accommodation (TA).
2. Mr X said the matters have negatively impacted on his health.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
5. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr X complained about delays in the Council making a decision on his homelessness application and about the accommodation it had placed him in.
9. Mr X made his homelessness application to the Council in February 2024 and initially complained to it in November 2024 about delays, the suitability of accommodation and how it had communicated with him.
10. The Council provided a final response to Mr X’s complaint in April 2025. In its response, it provided Mr X with a financial remedy of £575 to acknowledge the delays, and issues with its communication and complaint handling.
11. It also provided a response about Mr X’s concerns about his accommodation, by directing him to raise his concerns with the landlord. We are satisfied the Council’s actions and offer of a remedy was an appropriate response to Mr X’s complaint up to that point (April 2025).
12. The Council decided it owed Mr X the main housing duty in November 2025. 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.
13. Interim and temporary accommodation can be the same physical property. What changes is the legal duty under which a council provides it. This is important because there is a statutory right to review the suitability of temporary accommodation. This then carries a right of appeal to county court on a point of law. There is no statutory right to review the suitability of interim accommodation.
14. If we investigated this complaint, it is likely we would find the Council at fault because it then took a further seven months to consider Mr X’s homelessness application after its April response. Additionally, the delays withheld Mr X’s right to request a suitability review of the TA the Council placed him in.
15. We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice its delays caused Mr X, after April 2025. We asked it to do this by paying Mr X a further £400 symbolic payment to resolve the complaint early.
16. To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will pay Mr X £400 within one month of this final decision.
17. Additionally, since the Council decided it owed Mr X the main housing duty, Mr X has a statutory right to request a suitability review of the TA it had placed him in. Should Mr X remain dissatisfied with the outcome of that review, he would then have a further right of appeal to the County Court.
18. Because this right is set out in law, we consider it reasonable to expect Mr X to use it.

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Final decision

19. We have upheld the complaint because the Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mr X and he has a statutory right to request a suitability review of his temporary accommodation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman