Summary: Miss X complained about the suitability of her temporary accommodation. She says there was a leak at her property which meant that she was unable to use her kitchen. Miss X reports there were delays from the Council in fixing this issue and the failure to do so has severely affected her physical and mental health. We found the Council at fault as it failed to secure alternative accommodation. The Council will act to apologise, to offer alternative accommodation and make payment to recognise the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the suitability of her temporary accommodation. She says there was a leak at her property which meant that she was unable to use her kitchen. Miss X reports there were delays from the Council in fixing the issue.
2. She says the failure to do so has severely affected her physical and mental health. She confirms that she has a disability which the Council are aware about. She seeks for the Council to provide compensation for the distress, for repairs to take place and recognition of the Council’s failures.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, 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 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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making the final decision.
7. 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

8. There are two types of accommodation councils provide to certain homeless applicants: interim accommodation and temporary accommodation.
9. 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)
10. If, having made inquiries, the council is not satisfied an applicant is homeless, eligible, and in priority need, it will have no further accommodation duty.
11. 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)
12. 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)
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. 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)
15. Councils must complete reviews of the following decisions within eight weeks of the date of the review request:

• eligibility for assistance;
• not in priority need;
• intentionally homeless;
• suitability of accommodation;
• notice being given of deliberate and unreasonable refusal to cooperate and the effect of the notice is to bring the relief duty to an end.

16. These periods can be extended if the applicant agrees in writing.
17. The council must advise applicants of their right to appeal to the county court on a point of law, and of the period in which to appeal. Applicants can also appeal if the council takes more than the prescribed time to complete the review. (Housing Act 1996, sections 202, 203 and 204)

What happened

18. The Council confirms that it owes Miss X main housing duty. In December 2024 Miss X raised to the Council the leak issue at the property. In February 2025 Miss X asked the Council to move her due to her disability. Shortly afterwards, the Council inspected the property.
19. In March 2025 Miss X raised a complaint to the Council about the suitability of the property and lack of progress in resolving the leak. In June 2025 she made a stage two complaint which the Council responded to in July 2025.
20. A further inspection took place in June 2025 and October 2025 with the Council arranging some work at the property however Miss X confirms that this has not resolved the issue fully.
21. The Council say it has previously determined for a separate issue that the property was unsuitable in September 2023. It offered an alternative property in January 2026, but Miss X declined this as being unsuitable for her due to personal reasons. Miss X says that she was unable to afford this.

Analysis

22. There is a legal duty for councils to ensure any accommodation provided under a homelessness duty is suitable for the applicant.
23. The Council found in September 2023, even before this issue occurred, the accommodation was unsuitable. It therefore owed an immediate duty to provide suitable accommodation. I consider it fault the Council failed to provide adequate, suitable alternative accommodation after it determined in September 2023 the property was unsuitable.
24. We normally expect people to complain to us within twelve months of them becoming aware of a problem. Miss X did not complain to the Ombudsman until August 2025 following the failure from the Council to fix the leak at the property. I have therefore considered the injustice from the failure to offer suitable alternative accommodation from December 2024 when Miss X first raised the leak to the Council.
25. After Miss X raised concerns into the property she formally sought to move in February 2025. I consider it fault by the Council that it did not consider this request fully at the time or advise Miss X on how to complete a review on the suitability of the property. It could have also responded better to her throughout her complaint and kept her updated better in its progress in trying to fix the leak.
26. Given however the Council had already accepted the property to be suitable, I would have expected it to have expedited its offer to move Miss X sooner.
27. Our guidance on remedies considers the impact of the matter when a complainant has been deprived of suitable accommodation. I have considered that Miss X is disabled and has been deprived of adequate facilities to cook and prepare food as she has reported that she cannot use her kitchen. This issue would have had a high level of impact on her over a long time.
28. I have found the Council should provide Miss X with an award of £350 per month from December 2024 through to May 2026. This equates to £6,300.
29. The Council should confirm in writing to Miss X that it will offer her the next suitable alternative accommodation it has available. I cannot require the Council to offer this within a certain timeframe, as neither the Council nor the Ombudsman have control over when a suitable property will become available.
30. Similarly, I note that Miss X has requested for the leak to be fixed immediately. However, the Ombudsman could not enforce this remedy if due to the complexity of the issue, the Council is unable to fix this within a certain timeframe.
31. Any remedy from the Ombudsman needs to be enforceable and have a time limit to it. I therefore find the Council should confirm that it will provide ongoing payments of £350 a month to Miss X. This should be from June 2026 for a maximum of six months or until it offers Miss X suitable alternative accommodation. If after six months, the Council has not offered Miss X suitable alternative accommodation, then any continuing injustice would be the basis of a new complaint.
32. We have recently made service improvements of the Council on other cases, about its performance and service in completing reviews into the suitability of accommodation. I have therefore decided not to recommend any further service improvements, as the Council must be allowed an opportunity to improve its service.

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Action

33. Within four weeks of the final decision, the Council has agreed to:
1. Provide an apology to Miss X for the distress it caused her in the failure to offer suitable alternative accommodation sooner.
2. Pay Miss X £6,300 for the failure to offer suitable alternative accommodation from December 2024 to May 2026.
3. Pay Miss X a further £350 a month from June 2026 for a maximum of six months or until it offers her suitable alternative accommodation.
4. Confirm in writing that it will offer Miss X the next suitable property that becomes available.
34. 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.
35. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

36. I find fault causing injustice. The Council will apologise to Miss X, take action and provide a payment to her in recognition of the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman