Summary: Miss D complains the Council placed her in unsuitable interim and temporary accommodation and failed to provide housing assistance. I have found the Council at fault. Miss D had to stay in unsuitable accommodation for just over seven months and was caused avoidable time and trouble. The Council has agreed to pay Miss D redress and to apologise for its poor handling of her case.

The complaint

1. The complainant (whom I refer to as Miss D) says the Council placed her in unsuitable interim and temporary accommodation in 2025. She also complains her Housing Officer failed to respond to contact or assist her with finding a private sector rental home. Miss D says she experienced anxiety and distress because of the unsuitable accommodation and poor handling of her case.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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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What I have and have not investigated

4. The Ombudsman has previously investigated a complaint from Miss D about the handling of her homelessness application during 2024 up to the point Miss D was offered interim accommodation.
5. My investigation has considered events from March 2025 through to the end of October. I have advised Miss D that events after October 2025 would need to form a new complaint to the Council. Once she has completed the complaints process she can bring those new issues to the Ombudsman.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered evidence provided by Miss D and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
7. I shared my draft decision with both parties.

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What I found

What happened

Background

2024

8. Miss D approached the Council for homelessness assistance in July 2024. She lived with her partner and dependent children. Her tenancy was coming to an end in August. A Housing Officer (Officer A) was assigned to the case but then left the Council on 20 September. The Council says the case was left in Officer A’s name in error. A second Housing Officer (Officer B) was allocated the case on 25 October.
9. In December a Procurement Officer was in contact with Miss D about private sector rental accommodation. No suitable property could be identified. On 17 December Miss D completed a medical assessment form for homelessness prevention and the housing register. She referred to medical conditions for herself and a child. On 20 December Miss D completed a vulnerability assessment form. She said she did not use public transport and did not have a vehicle.
10. On 21 January 2025 the Council told Miss D it had accepted a prevention duty towards her. In February Miss D contacted the Council stating Officer B had failed to contact her. On 21 February Officer B called Miss D to arrange a homelessness assessment. On 24 February Officer B carried out the homelessness assessment with Miss D.

Events I have investigated

11. On 4 March Officer B completed a suitability assessment form. They noted Miss D could have a property requiring a ‘standard 90 minute to commute’ distance from her workplace. Miss D’s family had no medical need to be located in a particular location. Miss D had told the Council all her family connections, work and her child’s school were in a specific area (area X). The Officer noted Miss D wanted to be housed in area X and had advised she had a phobia of using public transport but had ‘failed to provide sufficient medical evidence to back up this claim’. There was no note that Miss D could not live in a certain area due to a safety risk. Also on 4 March Officer B told Miss D’s representative the Council would provide interim accommodation and would be in touch once the placement was finalised.
12. On 6 March a bailiff warrant was executed for the property Miss D had been living in. Miss D attended the Council office, and she recalls handing in a copy of medical evidence. The Council in its response to my enquiries says it considered Miss D’s medical circumstances which ‘confirmed [Miss D] suffers from a phobia related to transport, significantly impacting her ability to use public transport’. Miss D has asked to live within walking distance of her job. The Council says this was taken into account during the assessment for interim accommodation, but the Council had limited properties available and had to offer what was available that day. Also on 6 March the Council notified Miss D it had ended its prevention duty and accepted a relief duty towards her. It would provide a personalised housing plan (PHP) and interim accommodation. That day the Council provided emergency hotel accommodation for one night. On 7 March the Council offered interim accommodation outside of area X.
13. On 9 March Miss D contacted the Council and reported issues with the interim accommodation. There were exposed wiring, poor hygiene and unsafe furniture. She asked the Council to carry out a statutory suitability review. The Council’s Review Officer wrote to Miss D on 10 March about a review for ‘temporary accommodation’ and asked for more information. Also on 10 March the Council sent Miss D a PHP. The Council says repairs were carried out to the interim accommodation by 27 March and all safety issues were resolved. I understand from Miss D that she notified the Council in March that she was pregnant.
14. On 3 April Miss D complained to the Council. Officer B was ignoring calls and emails. She had not received support to find private sector housing. She detailed how she felt unsafe in her interim accommodation and how this was impacting on her health given she was pregnant. She asked the Council to allocate her a different Housing Officer. I have no record of the Council’s response to this complaint. On 4 April a Review Officer told Miss D a statutory suitability review was not applicable for interim accommodation and suitability could only be challenged via a judicial review. On 21 April the Council allocated a different Housing Officer (Officer C) to the case. At the end of April Miss D supplied information about her pregnancy to the Council. On 6 May Officer C noted the Council had accepted a main housing duty towards Miss D. Miss D says she did not receive a copy of the decision until 12 June.
15. On 16 May the Council responded to a Member’s enquiry made on behalf of Miss D about unsuitable accommodation. Miss D was living near a named third party and was concerned about the safety of her family. It said she had been placed on the waiting list to transfer to alternative temporary accommodation. The Council would contact her when a suitable property was available but there was a significant shortage of accommodation. The Council has told me Miss D was added to the transfer list, but no formal housing needs assessment was conducted prior to that decision being made. On 20 June Miss D’s representative asked the Council to carry out a suitability review of her temporary accommodation. At the end of June a Mental Health Nurse wrote a letter. They said the Council should carry out an urgent review of the temporary accommodation provided to Miss D. They were concerned about the suitability of the accommodation and the post pregnancy ‘recovery implications’.
16. On 11 July Miss D asked the Council to escalate her complaint. She had previously told Officer B that she could not use public transport but had been placed outside area X. Officer B stated he had forgotten about her at one point. She explained why the temporary accommodation was unsuitable. In addition she had sent several lots of details about possible private sector rental properties to the Council and never heard back. She needed to move as soon as possible. On 19 July Miss D sent medical information from her GP to the Council.
17. On 6 August Miss D’s representative wrote to the Council with further information for the suitability review. The accommodation was too far from the children’s school, Miss D’s GP and her workplace. On 8 August the Council replied to the complaint and said it could not comment on the temporary accommodation matter because it was subject to a review. It did not respond to the other points raised by Miss D.
18. On 25 August a Councillor forwarded a complaint from Miss D to the Council and asked for a response. Miss D said the Council was aware she could not live in area X because of a named third party and there was a risk of harm, but it had failed to take this into account when providing accommodation. Miss D also said she was regularly applying for private sector rental homes and sending the information to Officer C who then took no action. On 27 August Miss D’s representative asked the Council to extend the timeframe to submit evidence for the suitability review. The Council agreed to extend the timeframe to 2 September.
19. On 3 September the Council issued its review decision. It said the temporary accommodation was not suitable. It had placed Miss D on a transfer list for alternative accommodation in May meaning it accepted the accommodation was unsuitable at that point. It would remind the Lettings Team to source alternative accommodation. The Review Officer subsequently emailed colleagues that Miss D needed to be prioritised for a move. She noted the ‘relevant considerations’ were absent in the case and before further accommodation was offered the Housing Officer should determine the household’s housing needs and asses the suitability of any proposed property.
20. On 8 September Miss D provided Officer C with contact details for a letting agent and information about a private rental property. The same day the Council requested documentation from the letting agent about the property to progress securing it for Miss D. That information was supplied to the Council on 12 September. On 28 September Officer C requested a rent deposit payment for the property and advised the letting agent the following day about the action taken.
21. At the start of October Miss D lodged a new complaint with the Council stating she had been in unsuitable accommodation since March. She had found a private rental home recently and the Council had failed to carry out agreed actions to pay the deposit and fees. She was worried it would jeopardise the tenancy and an Officer had told her they had forgotten to process the payment. On 6 October the letting agent told the Council the rent deposit payment had not been received. On 10 October Officer C sought an update from the Finance Team about the payment. The payment had been delayed because incorrect bank details had been provided, this was rectified the same day. On 14 October Miss D started a tenancy at a private sector rental property.
22. On 29 October the Council replied to the complaint. It accepted Miss D had been in unsuitable accommodation since 6 March. It had requested an urgent move after the review decision but there was a shortage of alternative properties. The Council had agreed to support a move to a private rental home but there had been a delay in transferring the payment to the landlord. It had escalated the matter to the relevant Team to ensure the payment was processed. It also said it was unacceptable that Officer C had forgotten about the case and this had been raised with their Manager for a review.

What should have happened

Homelessness

23. 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)

The prevention duty

24. If councils are satisfied applicants are threatened with homelessness and eligible for assistance, they must help the applicants to secure that accommodation does not stop being available for their occupation. In deciding what steps they are to take, councils must have regard to their assessments of the applicants’ cases. (Housing Act 1996, section 195)

The relief duty

25. 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)

Duty to arrange interim accommodation

26. 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)

The main housing duty

27. If a council is satisfied an applicant is homeless, eligible for assistance, and has a priority need the council has a duty to secure that accommodation is available for their occupation (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)

Interim and temporary accommodation

28. There are two types of accommodation councils provide for certain homeless applicants: interim accommodation and temporary accommodation. Temporary accommodation is provided once the Council accepts the main housing duty. 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.
29. 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)

Council procedures

30. The Council should assess whether interim or temporary accommodation is suitable before it is offered to an applicant. Where the applicant has told the Council their household has medical needs the Council should obtain recent evidence from the applicant to assess. The Council should consider if the accommodation is suitable for the applicant’s medical and personal circumstances. If there are multiple medical conditions the Council can refer the case to its Medical Adviser for an opinion about the suitability of the accommodation. The Accommodation Team then considers any advice and evidence to determine if the accommodation should be offered to the applicant.
31. When an applicant tells the Council an offer of interim accommodation is not suitable the Council should assess the concerns and reach a decision on whether the interim accommodation is suitable. The Council says that concerns raised about safety, medical needs and location are ‘taken seriously and assessed promptly’. The Council can obtain evidence from the applicant and other professionals to inform a decision. If the accommodation is found unsuitable the Council should provide alternative interim accommodation ‘without delay’ and the applicant will receive a ‘clear decision explaining the outcome and next steps.’
32. If the Council accepts that an applicant is in unsuitable temporary accommodation it will place them onto the temporary accommodation transfer list. Transfer requests are recorded in date order, and an applicant is given a priority level. Higher priority is awarded to applicants where there is safety, medical or safeguarding concerns. The Council says the system balances date order with assessed need. The Council also states it is not standard practice to notify applicants in every case when they are placed onto the transfer list until it has fully completed any assessments. Once on the transfer list the Council will make daily checks of its temporary accommodation to identify a suitable property.
33. Where an applicant is seeking a private sector rental home the Housing Officer should provide assistance. They will make compliance checks to see the landlord is acceptable and the property is suitable and affordable. When a property has been identified as suitable the Council will make a rent and deposit payment direct to the landlord. This can only be done once the compliance checks are completed. The Council aims to make the payment within 10 working days of receiving the compliance documentation.
34. If an applicant tells the Council their Housing Officer is not assisting them the Council can consider if there is a basis to allocate a new Housing Officer. If the Council finds the Housing Officer ‘unduly or recklessly failed to assess and support the needs’ of the applicant for no ‘no identifiable just reason’ it will usually reallocate the case.

Was there fault by the Council

35. Miss D was placed in unsuitable interim accommodation (which became temporary accommodation when the Council accepted main duty towards her). In the 29 October 2025 complaint response the Council accepted Miss D had been in unsuitable accommodation since 6 March. Miss D and her family had to live in unsuitable accommodation for over seven months.
36. On 9 March Miss D reported various issues with her interim accommodation. The Council told her on 4 April that she could not seek a statutory suitability review for interim accommodation. Whilst that was correct, the Council could and should have responded to the concerns raised by Miss D in writing rather than advising her she could only seek judicial review.
37. The Council failed to assess Miss D’s needs before placing her on the transfer list in May 2025: that is fault. The Council should have considered what level of need Miss D had to determine if she had a higher priority and should be moved sooner. Also when Miss D was added to the transfer list in May 2025, she was not informed about that action until the Council issued its statutory review decision in September. I see no reason why the Council could not have informed Miss D about its decision that she was in unsuitable accommodation and on the transfer list by the end of May. Given Miss D continued after that time to tell the Council her accommodation was unsuitable it had several prompts to respond and update her and failed to do so. In addition the Council did not clarify to Miss D what being on the transfer list entailed or what priority she had. It also failed to provide any updates about what was happening in respect of sourcing alternative temporary accommodation.
38. The Council accepted a main duty towards Miss D on 6 May but failed to issue her with a decision letter. That was not provided until 12 June, a delay of over a month.
39. Miss D says the Council failed to provide assistance with finding a private sector rental home during 2025. The Council’s records I have seen are limited and I cannot verify what contact Miss D had with Officers on this matter. However, I note that Miss D complained three times to the Council in 2025 about Officers failing to assist her. The Council failed to address those concerns at the complaint stage which is not acceptable.
40. Miss D says she supplied a GP letter to the Council three times (one copy of each Housing Officer on her case) and provided a court order showing why she should not be placed in a specific area. The Council has no record of those documents, so I am unable to say with any certainty if they were received. I am unable to say with any certainty whether there is fault in this matter.
41. Miss D also complains Officer C delayed processing the documentation to allow a rent deposit payment for her new home in October 2025. The evidence shows me that Officer C did progress this matter with the letting agent in September but there was some delay, in part due to incorrect bank details being held for the letting agent. Officer C could have kept Miss D better updated about what was happening given this was particularly stressful time for her and she was not kept informed about why the deposit had been delayed.
42. The Council failed to provide Miss D with a full response to her complaint. The 8 August response simply referred to the suitability review and failed to deal with Miss D’s concerns about poor support and lack of communications from her Housing Officers. It also did not pick up on Miss D’s complaint that she was not receiving assistance in finding a private rental home. The response failed to reasonably address the points raised by Miss D.

Did the fault cause an injustice

43. Miss D was placed into unsuitable interim and then temporary accommodation for just over seven months. She received a poor response to her complaints, and the main duty decision notification was delayed. The poor handling of this case meant Miss D was not afforded a reasonable level of service. This caused her avoidable time and trouble.

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Action

44. The Council has agreed to the following actions to remedy the injustice caused to Miss D:
• Pay Miss D £1,750 for the time spent living in unsuitable accommodation
• Pay Miss D £200 for avoidable time and trouble caused by the poor handling of her case
• Send Miss D an apology letter for the faults identified in this investigation
45. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions within four weeks of the case closing.

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Decision

46. I find fault causing injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman