Summary: There was fault by the Council. It cannot show that it properly considered whether it is reasonable for Ms X to stay in her current property, nor that it told her that she could ask it to review its decision about this. The Council’s actions have caused Ms X uncertainty about whether it owes her a housing duty. The Council should apologise to Ms X, make her a symbolic payment, and review its housing duties towards her.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that the Council did not deal with her housing situation properly when she approached it for help in May 2024.
2. Ms X says that the Council’s failings caused her mental and physical health to deteriorate. She is awaiting major surgery and has had to sleep on her daughter’s sofa for over a year. This is very difficult especially as she has to manage her medical needs, including oxygen therapy at home.

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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 recommend 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 Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

The law and guidance

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. 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)
9. Someone is homeless if they have no accommodation or if they have accommodation, but it is not reasonable for them to continue to live there. (Housing Act 1996, Section 175)
10. After completing inquiries, the council must give the applicant a decision in writing. If it is an adverse decision, the letter must fully explain the reasons. All letters must include information about the right to request a review and the timescale for doing so. (Housing Act 1996, section 184, Homelessness Code of Guidance 18.30)
11. 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)
12. Homeless applicants may request a review of the suitability of accommodation offered to the applicant after a homelessness duty has been accepted. Applicants can request a review of the suitability of accommodation whether or not they have accepted the offer.
13. 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

14. Ms X was renting a house for many years. Her private landlord served a notice on her asking her to leave because they wanted the house back.
15. In May 2024, Ms X approached the Council for help to find her a new home and in June, the Council accepted she was threatened with homelessness. Ms X has a disability and a mental illness. She requires oxygen while she waits for a major operation. The Council recorded Ms X’s medical needs and in August 2024, it accepted that it owed Ms X the main housing duty. The landlord continued to pursue court action, but Ms X was able to stay living there in the meantime.
16. In October, the Council offered Ms X a ground floor apartment with an adapted bathroom. Ms X refused this property due to the communal entrance and the impact of this on her mental health. Ms X also told the Council she had concerns about antisocial behaviour nearby. The Council told Ms X it had no reports of antisocial behaviour there and it would end its housing duty if she did not accept the property.
17. Ms X confirmed that she would not accept the property and the Council wrote to her with its decision that this offer ended the Council’s main housing duty. The Council’s letter set out that Ms X had the right to ask the Council to review that decision and then take the matter to court. Ms X told the Council that she still thought the property was unsuitable for her and it should not have ended its housing duty to her.
18. The Council contacted its Adult Social Care service because Ms X has a disability and was due to be evicted by her landlord very soon. The Social Care service contacted Ms X. She said she did not need its intervention, but needed suitable housing. It asked the Council’s homelessness service to continue to work with her to resolve her housing situation.
19. The Council is a partner in a local choice-based lettings scheme which enables housing applicants to bid for available properties which are advertised. Some of these properties are owned and managed by social housing providers other than the Council.
20. The Council put Ms X in its Gold Award housing priority on its housing register. The Council decided that Ms X would need two bedrooms as her medical needs means that her daughter has to sometimes come to stay with her to help and support her.
21. At the end of 2024, a housing association offered Ms X a property. Ms X moved to the new property but she realised that it was not suitable. She struggled with the external steps and the layout meant it was not safe for her family to visit her there.
22. Ms X made another housing application at the end of February 2025.The Council awarded Ms X Bronze priority on the housing register. Ms X asked the Council to review the priority award, and it awarded her silver priority for a two-bedroom property.
23. In May, an occupational therapist assessed Ms X’s needs. The therapist said that Ms X’s current housing was not supportive of her health needs and so she was not staying there. They had observed that Ms X has to lean heavily on the bannisters to use the stairs and finds both the external and internal stairs difficult.
24. The Council did not alter Ms X’s priority band. Ms X asked the Council to review this and also told it she was effectively homeless because the housing association property was not suitable. The Council told Ms X that she was not homeless because she had the housing association property.
25. In September 2025, following further correspondence from Ms X, the Council awarded Ms X Gold priority status because she cannot manage the stairs in the current property.
26. In October, Ms X reminded the Council that she still could not live at the property and she was staying in her daughter’s caravan with no mains services. The Council told Ms X that she could not vacate the property as she would be intentionally homeless.
27. In November, the occupational therapist wrote to the Council. They said that the external stairs make it very difficult for Ms X to access the property, and that the stairs are steeper than a standard staircase, and not carpeted. The Council said that the housing association might be able to arrange a ‘managed move’ to another property.
28. Ms X’s daughter contacted the Council to say that there was no room for Ms X to stay. She is sleeping on a sofa. The Council told Ms X to make another homelessness application. However it then told her that she is not homeless because she can live in the housing association property, and her housing register priority is in line with the occupational therapist’s assessment.
29. Ms X continued to bid on properties advertised through the choice-based lettings scheme. However, she has not been successful. Social housing providers have said that Ms X requires a ground floor property and adapted bath because she cannot manage steps.
30. Ms X has pointed out that she can manage standard steps, but not the ones at her current property, and that the occupational therapist had clarified this in November 2025. The Council has explained that it had added this information to Ms X’s housing details and in May 2026, it added a note that Ms X would only like the most recent occupational therapist assessment included. However, all the information is available to prospective social landlords because the Council does not delete information from housing applications.
31. The Council has said that it will remind relevant staff that where updated medical information materially affects an applicant’s requirements it will make sure that this is clear to prospective landlords.
32. However, the Council has also explained that social landlords have their own criteria for offering properties. It says that Ms X has recently not been offered properties because the landlords have not agreed she needs two bedrooms.
33. In response to my enquiries, the Council has confirmed that Ms X’s current social landlord asked the Council to agree a managed move for Ms X and the Council has agreed. The next step is for the landlord to advise the Council of a suitable specific property.

Was there fault by the Council causing injustice to Ms X?

34. There was fault by the Council.
35. Ms X told the Council that the ground floor flat it had offered her was not suitable because of the impact on her mental health. The Council ended its duty and Ms X again told the Council that this was not suitable. I acknowledge that Ms X did not ask for a review of the suitability of the ground floor flat specifically, and that her emails to it were about other aspects of her housing situation too. However, Ms X continued to tell the Council the flat had not been suitable for her and the Council cannot show that it considered whether Ms X was asking for a review of this.
36. When considering complaints we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we look at the available relevant evidence and decide what was more likely to have happened.
37. I cannot say, even on the balance of probabilities, that had the Council reviewed its decision, that it would have found that the flat it offered was not suitable and that it still owed a main housing duty to Ms X. However, its failure to consider her review request means that Ms X is left uncertain about whether the Council might have offered her more help at that time.
38. Ms X moved to the housing association property but realised that she could not manage the stairs into the property. The detrimental impact on her health of this property was confirmed by an occupational therapist. The Council took account of this when it awarded Ms X’s housing register application increased priority.
39. Ms X continued to ask the Council to help her, and was very clear that she could not live at the housing association property. Ms X made further homelessness applications and each time the Council told her that she was not homeless and she could live in the housing association property. However, the Council cannot show how it considered whether it was not reasonable for Ms X to remain in the property, and whether she was in fact, homeless. The Council has not shown that it issued a full decision letter to Ms X or told her of her legal right to ask for a review of these decisions.
40. Again, I cannot say that the Council would have found that Ms X could not stay in her current property and that it owed her housing duties. However, its failure to properly consider this and write to Ms X with details of its decision, has left Ms X uncertain as to whether the Council should have helped her and whether she lost her right to ask for a review.
41. There was no fault in how the Council handled the housing register application. The Council considered the information it had about Ms X’s medical needs and her current property and reached a decision based on that and its housing allocations policy. It also set out how Ms X could request a review of the Council’s decision.
42. Ms X is concerned that prospective landlords are not offering her properties with stairs due to the original occupational therapy report. However, the Council has explained that it does not delete information from a housing application. The Council has ensured that the more recent report that clarifies that Ms X can use standard stairs is available to prospective landlords and it has added a note to make sure that this is clear.
43. In any case, the Council has confirmed that the reason that housing providers have not offered Ms X properties is also that they do not consider she meets their criteria for a two-bedroom house. That is for the housing provider to decide and there is no fault by the Council.

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Action

44. The Council will within one month of the date of this decision statement:
• Apologise to Ms X for the uncertainty it caused when it did not properly consider her homelessness applications in 2025. 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.
• Make a symbolic payment to Ms X of £400 in recognition of the uncertainty it caused her over a prolonged period.
• Consider whether Ms X’s difficulties with her current property means that it is not reasonable to expect her to stay there, and whether the Council owes Ms X housing duties. The Council should issue Ms X a decision letter and this should set out how it has reached its decision, her right to ask the Council to review its decision, and if needed challenge the outcome in court.
45. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

46. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman