Summary: Miss B complained the Council has failed to complete repair works at her temporary accommodation. The Council was at fault. It has delayed carrying out repair works and failed to ensure they have been completed. It also delayed making a suitability decision and its communication was poor. Miss B suffered distress and frustration and spent time and trouble chasing the Council. She was also denied the opportunity to request a review. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss B, ensure the repair works have been completed, make symbolic payments, and issue staff briefings.

The complaint

1. Miss B complains the temporary accommodation she lives in has roof leaks causing puddles of water and damp in her home. She says the Council has failed to complete repairs, despite her reporting the issues to it for over a year.
2. As a result, Miss B says her mental health has been impacted, and she remains living in poor conditions with her two young children who have health issues.
3. Miss B would like the Council to move her to a property that is suitable for her and her family’s needs or carry out proper repairs to the property to resolve the issues, rather than a quick fix.

Back to top

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. 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)

Back to top

What I have and have not investigated

6. I have investigated matters in this case from mid-September 2024, when Miss B first reported the disrepair to the Council, to mid-July 2025, when we received Miss B’s complaint. I reference matters outside of these dates for context.
7. I have not investigated whether Miss B’s accommodation is suitable. This is because the Council decided the accommodation is suitable for Miss B and her children. If Miss B disagrees and believes the accommodation is unsuitable, she can ask the Council for a section 202 review of the accommodation’s suitability. The full process is outlined below in paragraph 12, which we would expect people to follow.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

8. I considered evidence provided by Miss B and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
9. Miss B and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Temporary accommodation

10. 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)

Suitability of accommodation

11. 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 accommodation and accommodation provided under the main housing duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.2)
12. Homelessness temporary accommodation must be legally suitable. (Housing Act 1996, section 206) Anyone who believes their temporary accommodation is unsuitable can ask the Council to review the accommodation’s suitability. (Housing Act 1996, section 202) If the Council’s review decides the accommodation is unsuitable, the Council must provide suitable accommodation. If the review decides the accommodation is suitable, the applicant has the right to appeal to the county court on a point of law. (Housing Act 1996, section 204)

Back to top

What happened

13. This is a summary of events outlining key facts and it does not include everything that has happened in this case.
14. Miss B moved into the temporary accommodation in Spring 2023. The Council owns the freehold of the building the accommodation is in and is responsible for the repair and maintenance of the building.
15. In September 2024, Miss B reported the water leaking into the property from the roof to the Council, through the property managing agent. The Council decided it would arrange a roof repair through a contractor.
16. The property agent chased the Council in October 2024 and November 2024 for an update, as the works had not yet begun. Miss B also chased the Council in November 2024. She told it she had not been told when the works were planned to start, recent heavy rain had made the leaks worse, and her young child had just been in hospital with health issues, including breathing difficulties. Miss B asked the Council when it would resolve the issues, or if she could request an urgent move from the accommodation.
17. The Council responded to Miss B and told her the repairs would be starting later that week, but Miss B told it a week later this had not happened. She contacted the Council again in January 2025 to report the works had still not been completed. Miss B told the Council the property was unsuitable due to the ongoing leaks and her children’s health conditions, and unsuitable for her child with ADHD.
18. Miss B complained to the Council in February 2025. She told it the property was leaking in numerous places, and she wanted the Council to move her immediately. She said the issue had been ongoing for almost six months and was affecting her young children’s health. The Council sent its stage one complaint response to Miss B in March 2025. It told her it was waiting for confirmation from the contractor about when the repairs would start. The Council told Miss B the property managing agent would visit her property to initiate the internal works caused by the damage.
19. Miss B raised a stage two complaint with the Council on the same day she received its stage one response. She complained it had not addressed that she had highlighted the accommodation was unsuitable for her child with ADHD, as well as because of the disrepair. Miss B also complained the Council had not acknowledged she had been living with the leaks since September 2024, with two young children and during severe rain. She also told the Council its communication was poor.
20. Miss B asked for a suitability review a week later. The Council acknowledged her request and asked Miss B to send it any evidence she would like it to consider. Miss B sent the Council evidence and told it the layout of the accommodation was unsuitable for her child with ADHD as his bedroom is the only bedroom located downstairs which causes him to often sleepwalk and panic.
21. The Council sent its stage two complaint response to Miss B in April 2025. It told her it would complete the suitability review and send her the outcome of this. It also apologised for the length of time it was taking for the repairs to be completed.
22. Miss B reported leaks to the Council again in July 2025 and told it that whatever repairs had been done had made the issue worse. She said there was leaks from the same places as before, as well new leaks. Miss B brought her complaint to us around this time.
23. In October 2025, the Council completed a medical assessment. In November 2025, the Council carried out a property inspection. It reported the roof looked as if it had dried out following the works, and it found no damp readings. The inspection report also noted that as Miss B stated there were still issues, it checked the back view of the main roof from a neighbouring flat to ensure the findings were correct. The report noted that the repair works to the main roof had been completed.
24. The Council sent a suitability review decision to Miss B in December 2025. It decided the accommodation is suitable for Miss B’s household needs. The Council told Miss B the property inspector had not found signs of present damp or water penetration, but it would keep the suitability of the accommodation under review in this regard. The Council also told Miss B it considered the property to be suitable in terms of her children’s medical needs and the medical assessment carried out in October 2025.
25. Miss B told us in January 2026 the roof is still leaking.

Back to top

Analysis

26. The Council has accepted it was at fault for the length of time taken to complete repair works in its stage two response. This caused distress and frustration to Miss B and meant she has had to wait longer than is reasonable for repairs to her accommodation, with two young children. The Council also did not provide timescales for completion of the works to Miss B, and its communication with her throughout was poor. This was fault. This caused further distress and uncertainty to Miss B and meant she went through time and trouble to continuously chase the Council for updates.
27. The legal duty lies with the Council to ensure the applicant is in suitable accommodation which is free from disrepair, and that any necessary repairs are done, and have been satisfactorily completed. Miss B has told me the leaks remain. However, in response to my enquiries, the Council told me it believes the repairs are completed, but that it is waiting for details from housing management of what works have been carried out. This demonstrates that the Council has not satisfied and ensured that all outstanding works have been completed. This was fault, which has caused further uncertainty as it is unclear whether all disrepair has been resolved.
28. The Council did not make a decision about whether the temporary accommodation was suitable for Miss B and her children after she reported her concerns to it and requested to be moved in November 2024 and in early 2025. It was clear from Miss B’s emails she was dissatisfied with the accommodation and considered it unsuitable. She also informed the Council on these occasions of her children’s medical circumstances. That should have prompted the Council to make a decision about the suitability of the accommodation. It should have then put the decision in writing to Miss B and, if it decided it was suitable, it should have notified her about her right to request a section 202 review. The Council did not do this. It arranged a medical assessment, but this was not completed until October 2025, several months after Miss B first contacted the Council. Further, the Council did not make a suitability decision until December 2025. The Council’s delay in making a suitability decision and follow the correct decision-making process was fault. Miss B was denied the opportunity to request a section 202 suitability review of the accommodation because the Council did not handle this correctly.
29. We have published guidance to explain how we calculate remedies for people who have suffered injustice because of fault by a council. Our primary aim is to put people back in the position they would have been in if the fault by the council had not occurred.
30. Sometimes we will recommend a financial payment to the person who brought their complaint to us. This might be to reimburse a person who has suffered quantifiable financial loss, or it might be more of a symbolic payment which serves as an acknowledgement of the distress or difficulties they have been put through. But our remedies are not intended to be punitive and we do not award compensation in the way a court might. Nor do we calculate a financial remedy based on what the cost of the service would have been to the provider.

Back to top

Action

31. To remedy the outstanding injustice caused to Miss B by the fault I have identified, the Council will take the following actions within four weeks of my final decision:
• Apologise to Miss B for the distress and frustration, uncertainty, time and trouble, and the denied opportunity to request a suitability review. This apology should be in accordance with our guidance Making an effective apology.
• Arrange a visit to Miss B’s accommodation to satisfy the repair works are completed and assess any outstanding repair works. The Council should provide Miss B with a clear timeframe for when any outstanding repair works that it identifies will be completed.
• Pay Miss B £400 for the distress, frustration, and uncertainty caused to her by the Council’s delay in completing the repair works and failure to satisfy the repair works are completed.
• Pay Miss B £200 for the uncertainty and time and trouble caused to her by the Council’s poor communication and failure to provide timescales of completion of the works to Miss B.
• Pay Miss B £300 for the denied opportunity to request a section 202 suitability of accommodation review caused to her by the Council’s delay in making a suitability decision.
32. Within three months of my final decision, the Council will also remind relevant staff:
• The legal duty lies with the Council to ensure applicants are in suitable accommodation which is free from disrepair, and where repair works are arranged, to ensure that they have been satisfactorily completed.
• The Council has a duty to keep suitability under review, and recognise the types of communications from applicants which should trigger the Council to make a suitability decision.
33. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Decision

34. I uphold Miss B’s complaint and find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman