Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to take action to help prevent his threatened homelessness, caused him to incur unnecessary court costs and did not make the advance rent and deposit payment for his new property as it had agreed to do. We have found fault by the Council causing injustice. The Council has agreed to remedy this by apologising to Mr X, making payments to reimburse him for the court costs, and the advance rent and deposit payment he was required to make, and reflect his distress and worry. It has also agreed to make service improvements.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I am calling Mr X, complains about the way the Council handled his request for assistance with his housing issues. He asked the Council for help when his landlord served him with a section 21 notice to leave his private rented property. He says the Council:

• did not provide him with any help to find somewhere else to live when he asked for assistance
• said it could not help until the court had made a possession order
• went back on its agreement to pay a month’s advance rent and deposit for him when he found another property to rent.

2. Mr X says the Council’s failures caused him to incur unnecessary court costs and worry and distress about finding somewhere else for his family to live before the date in the court order. And because the Council did not make the advance rent and deposit payment as agreed, he had to borrow the money and has a debt he is unable to repay.

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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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I spoke to Mr X, made enquiries of the Council, and read the information he and the Council have provided about the complaint.
6. I invited Mr X and the Council to comment on a draft version of this decision. I considered their responses before making a final decision.

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What I found

What should have happened

The law and guidance

7. Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 (The Act) and the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities (the Code) set out local housing authorities’ powers and duties to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.
8. Someone is threatened with homelessness if, when asking for assistance from a council:

• 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. The Code says (at 6.35):

• where an applicant has received a valid section 21 notice, and a council is satisfied the landlord intends to seek possession, further efforts to persuade the landlord to allow them to remain in the property are unlikely to be successful and there is no defence to a possession order
• it is unlikely to be reasonable for the applicant to continue to occupy the property beyond the expiry of the section 21 notice (unless the council is taking further action to arrange for the applicant to stay longer while alternative accommodation is found).

10. Section 195 of the Act creates the “prevention duty”. This places a duty on a council to work with people who are eligible for assistance and threatened with homelessness within 56 days to help prevent them from becoming homeless. It must take reasonable steps to help the applicant remain in their existing accommodation or secure alternative accommodation.
11. Where a council is satisfied someone is eligible for assistance and homeless, or threatened with homelessness, it must assess their situation. It must try to agree a personalised housing plan (PHP) with the applicant, setting out what both parties will do to try to resolve the housing problem. The council must review and update the assessment and PHP as circumstances change. (Housing Act 1996, section 189A)

The Council’s procedures for preventing homelessness

12. The Council says on its website:

• If a person thinks they are going to be homeless, they should contact it as soon as possible.
• The Council can check whether they have a legal right to stay in their current property.
• It will help prevent them becoming homeless and offer housing options.
• It cannot offer accommodation to most of the people who ask for help, but it can offer advice about finding private sector accommodation.

13. It issues guidance to its housing officers about the procedure for complying with the prevention duty. Once officers have confirmed the prevention duty has been accepted, they should:

• Issue the PHP plan and agree a review date
• Complete the actions the Council agreed to take as set out in the PHP
• Record actions taken to prevent homelessness on the Council’s casework management system
• Review the PHP weekly for 56 days
• Notify the housing assessment team leader 14 days before the end of the prevention duty period or the homelessness date if known.

14. The Council also issues guidance to housing officers about its procedure for offering applicants accommodation in the private rented sector. This guidance says:

• In some cases, the Council can help applicants by sourcing suitable properties through a letting service owned by the Council and other London boroughs.
• This option is available when the prevention duty is owed and is focused on applicants who are in priority need and would be placed by the Council in temporary accommodation if they became homeless.

What happened

15. I have set out a summary of the key events below. It is not meant to show everything that happened.

Mr X’s first contact with the Council’s housing team

16. Mr X, his wife and four children lived in private rented accommodation. In July 2020, his landlord served a section 21 notice, giving them notice to leave by January 2021.
17. Mr X contacted the Council’s housing team for assistance. A housing officer interviewed him on 5 August.2020. Mr X completed a housing application. The Council’s records confirm it advised Mr X to wait until the landlord applied for possession and start looking for private rented property in the meantime.
18. The officer issued a PHP requiring Mr X to provide the further information needed for the application, and the Council to provide Mr X with information about renting in the private sector.
19. The Council wrote to Mr X on 5 August accepting it had a duty to help him resolve his homelessness and help him find somewhere else to live (the prevention duty). It confirmed this duty would end when through his actions or with its help, the Council was satisfied he had suitable accommodation available for at least six months.
20. Mr X provided the information to the Council, as required by the PHP, on 5 August. This included his landlord’s contact details.

January 2021 – Mr X’s landlord started court action

21. Mr X told the housing team in January his landlord had started court action. He sent the team details of the possession proceedings.
22. A housing officer told Mr X by email this was a possession claim with no date to leave. He could be waiting many months before anything happened. He did not need to do anything as possession was mandatory. The Council’s record says Mr X was not currently homeless and he was advised to contact the team again if he received anything further from the court.

February 2021 – possession order

23. The court made a possession order on 5 February requiring Mr X and his family to leave the property by 5 March 2021. He was also ordered to pay £355 costs.
24. Mr X sent a copy of the possession order to the Council. The same officer who had contacted him in January told Mr X by email on 10 February he could now look at renting the other property he mentioned “with financial assistance from the rent incentive scheme”.

March 2021 – Mr X moves into another property

25. On 4 March Mr X sent the officer the tenancy agreement for another private rented property he and his family had arranged to move to. Mr X confirmed the letting agents would contact her.
26. The agents sent the officer information about the property on 10 March. They asked for clarification of the incentive the Council was offering for letting the property to Mr X.
27. The officer confirmed the Council would assist with payment of the advance rent and deposit or an incentive, and the amount of this payment. She asked the agents for an invoice.
28. The agents sent the officer their invoice on 11 March, and bank details on 12 March.
29. The officer contacted the agents on 16 March and said she understood the advance rent and deposit had already been paid. When the agents confirmed they had not received any payment, she asked whether the agents had allowed Mr X to move into the property before payment of advance rent and the deposit. The agents queried whether it had been a mistake to give Mr X the property without this payment.
30. I have not seen records of any further contact by the officer with either Mr X or the agents from 16 March, until Mr X’s email of 24 March. Mr X asked the officer whether she was back from leave and to pay as soon as possible as he was under a lot of pressure. The officer told Mr X she was waiting for the agents to explain why they let him move in without payment upfront.
31. The agents then told the officer payment had been made on 19 March. Mr X explained to the officer because he had been unable to contact her and the agent was pressuring him for payment, he’d had to borrow the money from a friend.
32. The officer told Mr X the Council couldn’t make the advance rent and deposit payment now, because it had already been paid.
33. Mr X asked the Council to change its mind. He said:

• He had moved from his previous property to the new property because the officer told him the Council would pay his advance rent and deposit.
• The agents only allowed him to move in before payment on the understanding the Council had agreed to make the payment and his friend acted as his guarantor.
• The agents were unhappy about the Council’s delay with the payment and the number of questions. They told him he had to make the payment immediately to be allowed to stay at the property. He did not have the money for the payment had to borrow from his friend. He now had to repay this.

34. The officer confirmed on 31 March the Council would not make the payment.

Mr X’s complaint

35. Mr X complained to the Council on 1 April about its decision not to pay his advance rent and deposit. He said:

• He was told, when he first contacted the Council about the section 21 notice, it was too early. He would only be offered help once there was a court order requiring him to leave.
• He contacted the Council again about the possession proceedings. He was very worried about the situation as his children were at local schools. He was told the Council could only help when he was evicted.
• When he sent the Council the court order, the officer told him he had to leave. He should now look for another property and the Council would pay one month’s rent and the deposit to the agent. He was not told he should not move in or make any payment to the landlord before the Council made the payment.
• They moved into the property while the agents waited for payment from the Council. Because of the delay, the agent told him they would have to move out. His friend made the payment so they could stay.
• The Council should make the payment as agreed so he could repay his friend. He would not have moved in had the officer not promised this.
• He also had to pay the court costs which he could not afford.

The Council’s response

36. In response, the Council said:

• The officer had advised Mr X about his occupancy rights and the steps the landlord had to take to evict him. He was told, if he did not have any savings, the Council could help him secure a private rented property by paying an incentive or the advance rent and deposit.
• It had told Mr X about the process for the rent deposit and incentive scheme and that the property had to be approved for suitability and affordability before payment was agreed.
• Assistance with advance rent and a deposit was for applicants who were homeless, or threatened with homelessness, and in priority need. He was not eligible for this assistance once he moved into the property and made the payments, because he wasn’t now at risk of homelessness.

My findings – was there fault by the Council causing injustice?

The Council’s prevention duty

37. I consider the Council failed to take the appropriate action help prevent Mr X and his family becoming homeless, remain in their existing accommodation or secure alternative accommodation, as required by the prevention duty. I say this because there is no evidence to show the Council:

• contacted Mr X’s landlord or checked the validity of the section 21 notice to see whether the eviction could be prevented.
• provided Mr X with any advice or support in searching for accommodation in the private sector.
• contacted Mr X about his situation between 5 August 2020 and January 2021
• reviewed the PHP as required by its procedure
• considered Mr X’s eligibility for an offer of private rented accommodation through the letting service or a referral to its internal acquisitions team to search for properties
• took any action to help Mr X when he told it his landlord had started court action.
• took any action to help Mr X when he told it a possession order had been made requiring him to leave his home by 5 March.

38. In my view the Council should have been providing Mr X with help and support to find somewhere else to leave from August 2020, as required by its prevention duty and its failure to do so was fault.
39. I also consider it was fault to tell Mr X he had to wait for a court order telling him to leave before the Council could help him. I have not seen any evidence it considered whether it was reasonable for Mr X and his family to continue to occupy the property beyond the expiry of the section 21 notice. There is no evidence it had contacted the landlord to try and resolve the situation. It was clear in January 2021 the landlord intended to enforce his claim for possession by court action. And the officer had assessed there was no defence to this claim.
40. These faults left Mr X in limbo, from August 2020 to March 2021, waiting for a court order. Not only did this cause him to incur court costs which could have been avoided, but also additional worry and distress about his family not having anywhere to live, and only a short time to find somewhere else to move to, without any support from the Council.
41. He also lost the opportunity to have his case considered for an offer of accommodation through the letting service.

Assistance with the advance rent and deposit payment

42. I have not seen any evidence the Council provided Mr X with any information about its rent incentive scheme or the terms and conditions for assistance with advance rent and deposit payments. All I have seen is the officer’s email of 10 February telling Mr X he could now look at renting another property with financial assistance from the rent incentive scheme.
43. In my view this was fault. Because of this Mr X did not know how the rent incentive scheme worked or the conditions to be satisfied before the Council would make a payment. He lost the opportunity to meet the conditions and receive assistance with the advance rent and deposit.
44. I am satisfied, based on the evidence I have seen and what Mr X told us and the Council, he moved into the new property in reliance on the officer’s assurance the Council would pay the advance rent and deposit on his behalf. He has been left with a debt he cannot afford to repay, causing him further worry and distress.

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Agreed action

45. To remedy the injustice caused by the above faults, and within four weeks from the date of our final decision, the Council has agreed to:
1. apologise to Mr X for its failure to take appropriate action to help prevent his homelessness and failure to provide information about its rent incentive scheme.
2. pay Mr X £200 to acknowledge the worry and distress its failures caused him. This figure is a symbolic amount based on our published remedies guidance.
3. reimburse Mr X for the court costs he was ordered to pay his landlord in respect of the possession proceedings
4. obtain evidence from Mr X’s landlord’s agents of the amount of advance rent and deposit paid on Mr X’s behalf and reimburse Mr X for this amount.
5. confirm to Mr X the terms of the Council’s rent incentive scheme and any conditions for repayment of the advance rent and deposit at the end of the tenancy.
46. And within three months from the date of our final decision, the Council has agreed to:
1. review its procedures and guidance to officers about providing information to applicants about its rent incentive scheme.
2. issue a briefing note to remind officers of these procedures and guidance and advise them about any changes made.
3. issue a briefing note to remind officers of the provisions of 6.35 of the Code and the procedure for applicants served with section 21 notices
47. The Council should provide us with evidence it has completed the above actions.

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Final decision

48. I have found fault by the Council causing injustice. I have completed my investigation on the basis the Council will carry out the above actions as a suitable way to remedy the injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman