Summary: Miss X complained Council failed to address the severe damp and mould in her former accommodation. She also says the Council failed to offer sufficient support and assistance with her homelessness, it failed to complete a suitability review, and it failed to award her sufficient points on the housing register. We find the Council was at fault for how it handled Miss X’s homelessness and for how it handled the damp and mould issues. It also failed to complete a suitability review, and it delayed responding to Miss X’s complaint. These faults caused Miss X upset and distress. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X and make a payment to her, backdate her registration date on the housing register, complete a suitability review and implement a service improvement.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained how the Council handled several housing matters. She says the Council failed to address the severe damp and mould in her former accommodation. She also says the Council failed to offer sufficient support and assistance with her homelessness, it placed her in unsuitable accommodation, and it has refused to deal with her request for a review of the suitability of the accommodation.
2. Miss X also complained the Council has failed to award her sufficient points on the housing register, and it failed to consider her and her children’s medical needs. Finally, Miss X says the Council’s communication has been poor and it has delayed responding to her complaint.
3. Miss X says the matter has caused significant distress and upset.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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. 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(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. Miss X and the Council 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

9. 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.
10. If a council is satisfied an applicant is threatened with homelessness and eligible for assistance, it must take steps to help the applicant keep their home or find somewhere new to live. This is called the prevention duty. In deciding what steps to take, a council must have regard to its assessment of the applicant’s case. (Housing Act 1996, section 195)
11. Councils must take reasonable steps to help to secure suitable accommodation for any eligible homeless person. This is called the relief duty. When a council decides this duty has come to an end, it must notify the applicant in writing (Housing Act 1996, section 189B)
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). This is called the main housing duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 193 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 15.39)
13. The Homelessness Code of Guidance states at paragraphs 6.35 to 6.38 states:

• it is unlikely to be reasonable for the applicant to continue to occupy their accommodation beyond the expiry of a section 21 notice, unless the housing authority is taking steps to persuade the landlord to allow the tenant to continue to occupy the accommodation whilst an alternative is found;
• it is highly unlikely to be reasonable for the applicant to continue to occupy beyond the date on which the court has ordered them to leave the property and give possession to the landlord;
• councils should not consider it reasonable for an applicant to remain in occupation up to the point at which the court issues a warrant or writ to enforce an order for possession;
• councils should ensure that homeless families and vulnerable individuals who are the main housing duty are not evicted through the enforcement of an order for possession as a result of failure by the council to make suitable accommodation available to them.

Interim and temporary accommodation

14. 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)
15. 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)
16. 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)
17. 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.

Private housing disrepair

18. Private tenants may complaint to their council about a landlord’s failure to keep their property in good repair. Councils have powers under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) introduced by the Housing Act 2004 to assess the condition of residential housing and take enforcement action where appropriate.
19. The HHSRS looks at the risks to the health and safety of occupants to a particular property. The HHSRS calls these risks hazards. There are Category 1 and Category 2 hazards. Category 1 hazards are the most serious.
20. The Housing Act 2004 places a duty on councils to take enforcement action when it identifies a Category 1 hazard. This could include serving an Improvement Notice, making a Prohibition Order, serving a Hazard Awareness Notice, or taking emergency action to reduce or remove the risk. Where the council identifies a Category 2 hazard, it can take enforcement action but does not have to.

Housing allocations

21. 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))
22. The Council places applicants who qualify to join the housing register in a priority banding depending on how many priority points their circumstances qualify them for.
23. The Council offers health and wellbeing priority where the applicant, or a member of their household, has a long-term health and wellbeing issue which is being affected by their current housing. Applicants who have a medium health and wellbeing need will be awarded 150 points. Health and wellbeing points are not available to those who have been awarded points due to being homeless.
24. When considering whether a private rented sector home is unsuitable, the Council considers whether the property could be made suitable through repairs or adaptations. If applicants need to move because of significant hazards in their property and the Council should be able to improve the conditions through enforcement activity, they will be awarded 50 points. If the Council cannot improve the conditions, it will award the application 300 points.
25. Applicants may meet more than one reasonable preference criteria. If this is the case, the Council puts them in whichever category which would award them the highest level of points.
26. Section 5.6 of the Council’s housing allocations scheme states an applicant or member of the household that has been diagnosed with either a mental health illness, learning disability or sensory impairment may be awarded 700 points. This does not apply to applicants who are owed the main housing duty.

What happened

27. This chronology includes an overview of key events in this case and does not detail everything that happened.
28. Miss X applied to join the Council’s housing register in January 2024. She lived in a privately rented property. She said in her application form the property was too small and there was excessive mould. She provided information about her and her child’s health issues.
29. Miss X also contacted the Council’s private rented housing team about the damp and mould in her property in January.
30. An officer from the private rented housing team visited Miss X’s property in February. He identified high humidity readings and extensive mould and condensation. He contacted the landlord and told them to complete works to improve the condition of the property. He told Miss X to update him when the landlord had completed the works. If the landlord failed to do so, he would then reassess the matter and potentially issue a Category 1 hazard.
31. Miss X approached the Council for homelessness assistance in March. She said the landlord had served her with a section 21 notice. A section 21 notice is a formal document served by a landlord to notify the tenant of their intention to repossess a property. The notice does not end a tenancy. The tenancy continues until the landlord obtains a possession order and enforces this with a warrant of possession.
32. The Council completed its review of Miss X’s housing register application in March. It decided she was eligible to join the housing register. It awarded her medium health and wellbeing priority (150 points).
33. Miss X provided further documents for the Council to consider for her housing register application. She asked the Council to review the points it had awarded her.
34. The Council contacted Miss X in early May. It said its decision remained the same and she had a medium health and wellbeing priority. Its medical officer noted there was no new information, and plans were in place to support the family with their ongoing issues. It also said its enforcement team would need to carry out an inspection to determine whether she was eligible for points based on the condition of her property. It said it would forward Miss X’s case to the private sector team. Miss X responded and said an officer from the team had inspected the property. However, he had not taken the issue seriously and had told her to wait a couple of months. She said this was unacceptable.
35. The private rented housing team carry out a further inspection of the property in late May. It found severe mould in the rear bedroom. The Council’s case notes state Miss X did not want the works to be carried out as she wanted to move. The Council said it had a duty to contact the landlord to get the issues resolved.
36. Miss X emailed the Council on the same day. She said the landlord had decided to seek possession of the property. She said she would send the possession order. She asked for advice on what she needed to do next.
37. The court sent Miss X sent a copy of the landlord’s claim for possession in mid-June. Miss X sent a copy to the Council.
38. The court issued a possession order in early July and asked Miss X to vacate the property within two weeks.
39. The Council awarded Miss X the relief duty in mid-July. It also spoke to Miss X about her housing circumstances. Miss X said the property was unsuitable for her to live in, but the Council had not taken action. Miss X’s homelessness officer sent an internal email to an officer in the private rented sector team about the issues. The officer responded and said they would find out what happened. He said he previously dealt with the matter and the landlord was taking action to resolve the issues.
40. Miss X sent the Council pictures of disrepair in her property in early October.
41. The Council completed an inspection of the property in late October. It decided the property was in disrepair because of severe mould and damp. It recommended the landlord out carry out works to remedy the disrepair.
42. Miss X contacted the Council in early November about the inspection report. She asked why it was withholding points on the housing register. The Council responded and said the inspection report had no bearing on her points because it had already allocated her 150 health and wellbeing points. It said it could not allocate 50 points for unsatisfactory or unsuitable housing as she could only fall into one reasonable preference group. This was in line with its allocations scheme.
43. The Council completed a suitability assessment form and provided Miss X with interim accommodation on 18 November. Miss X received the keys the following day.
44. Miss X contacted the Council a couple of days later and asked it to complete a suitability review of the interim accommodation. She raised concerns about the size of the property. She also raised concerns about hazards and disrepair.
45. The Council responded and said Miss X was not entitled to a suitability review because her case was at the relief duty stage. However, it had passed her concerns about the property to the temporary accommodation team.
46. The Council awarded Miss X the main housing duty in December. It said it was satisfied the accommodation it had provided was suitable. It said she could ask for a review about the suitability if she did not consider it was suitable.
47. The Council suspended Miss X application to join the housing register. It told her to make another application because of the change in her circumstances. Miss X made the application in December.
48. Miss X emailed the Council in January 2025 and asked why she could not have a suitability review. She said she would not accept that the timeframe for a review had elapsed as she had been requesting one since she moved into the property in November.
49. Miss X complained to the Council on 19 January about how it had handled her housing situation.
50. The Council assessed Miss X’s housing register application in late January. It awarded her 200 points for being homeless. It also recommended an additional bedroom for her child. It said it could not award her medical priority.
51. The Council issued its stage one response to Miss X’s complaint on 19 February. It said its housing assessment team had been communicating with her about the correct points for her housing application. It also said the disrepair in her previous property had been resolved and therefore it did not uphold her complaint.
52. Miss X referred her complaint to stage two of the Council’s complaints procedure on 21 February. She said she was dissatisfied with its response. She chased for an acknowledgement to her complaint at the end of February.
53. Miss X sent several emails to the Council in March about which banding it had placed her in. The Council responded and confirmed it had awarded her 200 points because it owed her the main housing duty.
54. As the Council had failed to respond to her complaint, Miss X contacted us at the end of April.

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Analysis

55. The issues in Miss X’s complaint started in January 2024, but she did not refer her complaint to us until April 2025. Events before April 2024 would normally be caught by the restriction in paragraph five of this statement. However, I have decided to exercise discretion to look at events from January 2024. It was an ongoing matter, and it would not be possible to assess Miss X’s complaint properly without looking at matters from the start.

Damp and mould

56. The Council inspected Miss X’s property in February 2024. It identified damp and mould but decided it could be resolved if the landlord completed the works. It contacted the landlord about the matter. It also told Miss X to update it when the landlord had completed the works and then it would reassess the matter. I do not find fault.
57. Miss X continued to report issues in May 2024. The Council inspected the property again. It only identified mould within the rear bedroom. While Miss X said she wanted to move, the Council said it would contact the landlord about the issues. There is no evidence it did so or that it monitored matters. This is fault, which caused Miss X some frustration.
58. Miss X raised ongoing mould and disrepair to her homelessness officer in July 2024. While the homelessness officer did make enquiries, nothing progressed. This is fault, which caused Miss X further frustration.
59. The Council took suitable action to move Miss X to alternative accommodation after it issued its report in late October 2024. I do not find fault.

Unsuitable accommodation and suitability review

60. The Council completed a suitability assessment form before it placed Miss X in the interim accommodation. When Miss X said it was unsuitable, the Council explained it could not complete a suitability review because the property was interim, rather than temporary accommodation. The Council adhered to the law and so I do not find fault.
61. However, by December 2024, the Council had awarded Miss X the main housing duty. She was therefore living in temporary accommodation. Miss X said in her email from January 2025 she still wanted a suitability review and she had been asking for one since November 2024. The Council should have therefore completed the review. Its failure to do so was fault. This has caused Miss X significant frustration and upset. She also has uncertainty about what the outcome would have been if the Council had completed the review sooner.

Miss X’s homelessness

62. Miss X provided the Council with the section 21 notice from her landlord in March 2024. I cannot see the Council took any action to deal with Miss X’s homelessness. This is fault. The Council should have awarded Miss X the prevention duty and took appropriate action in line with that duty.
63. The Homelessness Code of Guidance states it is highly unlikely to be reasonable for the applicant to continue to occupy beyond the date on which the court has ordered them to leave the property and give possession to the landlord. The Council received a copy of the possession order in July 2024, and it knew the date the court had asked Miss X to leave the property by. Therefore, it should have found her alternative accommodation much sooner. It also should have awarded her the main housing duty, rather than the relief duty, at that stage. Its failure to do so was fault.
64. The Council’s faults have caused Miss X upset and distress. It also means her registration date on the housing register has been affected because the Council should have awarded her the main housing duty sooner. I have made recommendations to address this injustice.

Housing register points

65. The Council reviewed the documentation Miss X provided in support of her application and awarded her 150 health and wellbeing points in March and May 2024. That was a decision it was entitled to take, even if Miss X strongly disagrees.
66. Miss X says the Council should have awarded her points for unsuitable housing. However, the Council’s allocations scheme states an applicant can only be allocated points from one reasonable preference criteria. If an applicant meets several criteria, the Council will put them in the category that has the highest number of points. Miss X would have only been entitled to 50 unsuitable housing points, and therefore the Council was not at fault for awarding her 150 health and wellbeing points.
67. Miss X says the Council should have awarded her 300 points when it received the housing inspection report at the end of October 2024. I do not accept this. 300 points for unsuitable housing only applies when there is an immediate threat to an applicant’s health and they are living in conditions the Council cannot improve through enforcement activity. Miss X circumstances did not fit these criteria. While the Council had identified severe mould and damp, its view was it could be resolved if the landlord completed works.
68. Miss X’s circumstances changed in November and December 2024 as she moved to different accommodation and the Council awarded her the main housing duty. The Council awarded her 200 points which is in line with its allocations scheme.
69. Miss X is unhappy the Council has not reassessed her under the correct category. She feels she meets the criteria under section 5.6 of the Council’s housing allocations scheme. Section 5.6 does not apply to applicants who are owed the main housing duty. Therefore, Miss X does not quality for any points under this category. The Council has however noted that Miss X needs a three-bedroom property because of her child’s needs. I do not find fault.

Communication

70. There is little evidence of regular communication between Miss X and her homelessness officer, and limited communication of what the officer was doing to progress the application. The Council also failed to answer Miss X’s questions about the suitability of the temporary accommodation and the issues with it. This fault caused Miss X some frustration.
71. However, I am satisfied the Council generally answered Miss X’s questions about the housing register. Miss X sent many emails, and the Council generally answered them within a reasonable timescale. I do not find fault.

Complaints handling

72. The Council should have issued its stage one complaint response within 10 working days. It missed this deadline by over two weeks. This is fault.
73. The Council should have issued its stage two complaint response within 20 working days. When Miss X referred her complaint to us at the end of April 2025, the Council had not acknowledged or provided a stage two response to her complaint. This is fault.
74. The faults in the Council’s complaints handling caused Miss X frustration and upset. I make personal recommendations to address this injustice.
75. The Council has confirmed it has now recruited additional officers to address the backlogs in complaints. It has also restructured its service. I am satisfied with the steps the Council is taking to improve its services, and I have therefore not recommended any service improvements.

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Action

76. By 15 June 2026 the Council has agreed to:

• Apologise to Miss X for the injustice caused by fault in this statement.
• Pay Miss X £350.
• Backdate Miss X’s registration date on her housing application to July 2024.
• Remind relevant officers that they must adhere to paragraphs 6.35 to 6.38 of the Homelessness Code of Guidance when they deal with homeless applications.

77. By 13 July 2026 the Council has agreed to complete a suitability review of Miss X’s temporary accommodation.
78. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

79. There was fault by the Council, which caused Miss X an injustice. The Council has agreed to my recommendations and so I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman