Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s handling of his homelessness application. He says the Council mishandled this which resulted in him staying longer in his existing property and incurring extra rental costs. We found the Council at fault. It should apologise and make payments to Mr X to recognise the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his homelessness application. He says the Council mishandled the application. It did not assess his circumstances appropriately at the time. After it had, he says that he was offered interim accommodation and could move out of his property but had incurred extra rental charges in the meanwhile.
2. Mr X says that this issue has caused him and his family distress especially his children who are sitting examinations currently.

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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 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)
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(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.
6. I have also considered the relevant statutory guidance, as set out below. In addition, I have considered the Ombudsman’s published guidance on remedies.

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What I found

What should have happened

7. 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.
8. Someone is threatened with homelessness if, when asking for assistance from the council on or after 3 April 2018:

• they are likely to become homeless within 56 days; or
• they have been served with a valid Section 21 notice which will expire within 56 days. (Housing Act 1996, section 175(4) & (5)

9. If someone contacts a council seeking accommodation or help to obtain accommodation and gives ‘reason to believe’ they ‘may be’ homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days, the council has a duty to make inquiries into what, if any, further duty it owes them. The threshold for triggering the duty to make inquiries is low. The person does not have to complete a specific form or approach a particular department of the council. (Housing Act 1996, section 184 and Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraphs 6.2 and 18.5)
10. Councils must complete an assessment if they are satisfied an applicant is homeless or threatened with homelessness. The Code of Guidance says, rather than advise the applicant to return when homelessness is more imminent, the housing authority may wish to accept a prevention duty and begin to take reasonable steps to prevent homelessness. Councils must notify the applicant of the assessment. Councils should work with applicants to identify practical and reasonable steps for the council and the applicant to take to help the applicant keep or secure suitable accommodation. These steps should be tailored to the household, and follow from the findings of the assessment, and must be provided to the applicant in writing as their personalised housing plan. (Housing Act 1996, section 189A and Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraphs 11.6 and 11.18)
11. 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)
12. Councils must take reasonable steps to help to secure suitable accommodation for any eligible homeless person. When a council decides this duty has come to an end, it must notify the applicant in writing (Housing Act 1996, section 189B)
13. 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). But 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)

What happened

14. In 2023 Mr X’s landlord tried to increase the rent at his property. The Council say that it agreed to fund the shortfall in rent for 12 months (up to December 2024) through its homeless prevention fund.
15. In October 2024, Mr X received a section 21 notice from his landlord to leave the property. Mr X told the Council about this on the same day. The Council say that it failed to find out the correct reason for the section 21 notice being issued believing mistakenly that this was because of a shortfall in rent. However, the landlord had issued a new tenancy agreement under the same increased rental terms.
16. In November 2024 Mr X completed an application for homelessness. On this form, he mentioned the property was overcrowded due to the sizes of the bedrooms. The Council passed Mr X’s homeless application to an officer to process. It also disagreed that Mr X’s property was overcrowded.
17. In January 2025 the Council accepted that it had prevention duty and a personal housing plan was created.
18. In June 2025 after further complaints, the Council agreed to send somebody to the property to measure the rooms. Four days after this occurred, the Council accepted that it owed Mr X relief duty. Mr X then moved into emergency temporary accommodation two days later.

Analysis

19. In its response the Council has accepted fault in the way that it handled Mr X’s homelessness application. It says that it has delayed in accepting relief duty and main housing duty (which as of December 2025 it had yet to process). These delays are outside the timescales set out in the legislation referenced above. It has also delayed issuing the Personal Housing Plan (PHP) and then failed to regularly update this.
20. The failure to handle Mr X’s homelessness case properly has impacted him by causing him distress in feeling the Council were not treating him fairly. Also, during this time he did not know if the Council would accept main housing duty if his tenancy was ended by his landlord. This doubt understandably added to the distress that Mr X experienced over this matter.
21. I consider the Council’s offer in respect of this to be sufficient, and I have included this in the award below.
22. However, the award offered by the Council does not resolve or recognise the issue with the rental payments. Mr X confirms the Council were covering the increase in rental payments up to December 2024.
23. On Mr X’s homeless application in November 2024, it mentions the overcrowding at the property in reference to bedroom sizes. In his complaint in February 2025, Mr X also mentions that he has raised the issue of overcrowding on five occasions without response from the Council.
24. When the Council responded in April 2025, it first stated there was no issue with overcrowding at the property. However, after a further complaint by Mr X it agreed to measure the rooms and found they were too small for the occupants.
25. While I accept the Council acted quickly after it visited the property and moved Mr X into emergency accommodation, there were multiple opportunities to spot and resolve this issue before this point.
26. If the Council had visited the property and taken measurements after Mr X raised the issue in his application in November 2024, it could have taken the decision to move him sooner. In turn this would have meant that Mr X would not have incurred the extra rental payments by remaining in the property after December 2024.
27. Mr X has confirmed the increase in rental payments from January 2025 to June 2025 came to £3,600. I consider as corrective action the Council should refund Mr X these payments.
28. In response to the complaint the Council has confirmed that it has provided training to the staff officer in question. It has also completed a new PHP form and process which its officers must follow when handling homelessness cases. I am satisfied with the actions the Council is taking in this regard.
29. I note that Mr X has sought for his family to be moved immediately. The Council uses a banding-based system to allocate accommodation. In assessing housing need the Council will give reasonable preference to those applicants who fall into defined categories. The Council confirms that Mr X has been banded and his application backdated until January 2025. I do not make decisions on a council’s behalf and so I cannot enforce it to offer Mr X an alternative property, especially given the housing crisis and lack of available suitable properties.

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Action

30. Within four weeks of the final decision, the Council has agreed to:
1. Provide an apology to Mr X for the distress caused in the handling of his homelessness application.
2. Pay Mr X £3,600 for the increase in rental payment caused by the failure from it to take action sooner.
3. Pay Mr X £1,500 for the distress that this issue caused him in the handling of his homelessness application.
31. 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.
32. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

33. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed to apologise and make payments to Mr X for the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman