Summary: The Council’s delay completing extensive repairs to Miss X’s temporary accommodation was fault. The Council was also at fault for failing to review the suitability of the accommodation. The Council has agreed to apologise, complete outstanding repairs, pay Miss X £5,900 and take action to improve its service.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained that the Council delayed making necessary repairs to her temporary accommodation.
2. She also complained that the Council has not properly assessed her priority on the housing register and has not registered her need to be rehoused into a specific type of property.
3. As a result, Miss X says she and her children are living in unsuitable accommodation where they do not feel safe.

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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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
5. We cannot question whether an organisation’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
6. 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(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I spoke to Miss X about the complaint and considered the information she provided.
8. I made written enquiries of the Council and considered its response along with relevant law and guidance.
9. I referred to the Ombudsman’s Guidance on Remedies, a copy of which can be found on our website.
10. Miss X and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Background

11. Miss X and her children became homeless in 2017. Since then, the Council has provided temporary accommodation under its statutory homelessness duty.
12. Miss X experienced domestic abuse from her ex-partner. The ongoing risk to her and the children means there are only certain areas the family can live.
13. Miss X moved into her current temporary accommodation in 2019 because the location of the previous property put her at risk.

Repairs

14. Miss X complained to the Council about various issues of disrepair in the property including:
• Damp and mould
• Mice
• The age and dilapidation of the kitchen
• The front door not opening and closing properly
• Leaks and other problems in the bathroom
• Damage to windows and an external gate
• The external stairs being unsafe
15. Ms X says the Council took too long to resolve these issues.
16. In response to Miss X’s complaint in October 2021, the Council accepted that it had taken too long to deal with some of the issues and that Miss X had to report some things more than once.
17. It said it would carry out an inspection to identify the outstanding works and progress these. Miss X says despite this, the Council still took too long to make necessary repairs.
18. In response to my enquiries, the Council provided details of all repairs to the property since Miss X moved in. These records show the date the Council raised the repair, the target date, and the date of completion along with a description of the works.

Front door

19. Ms X reported this issue in November 2019 and again in November 2020. On both occasions, the Council attended to ease and adjust the door. In July 2021, the Council agreed to replace the door. The repair was raised in September, with a target for completion of seven working days. It was reported complete in March 2022. This is a delay of eight months and is fault.

Bathroom

20. The Council raised a repair in September 2020. The target for completion was 20 working days. The repair was completed in September 2021. This is a delay of 11 months and is fault.

Kitchen

21. Miss X complained about the kitchen when she moved in. At that time, the Council visited and decided it was fit for purpose and safe to use.
22. In May 2021, the Council raised an order to replace the sink. The contractor reported in June that the entire kitchen needed to be replaced. The Council says this work was delayed due to a shortage of materials. As a result Ms X waited almost a year for the kitchen, which was completed in March 2022. Although I accept that some delay was due to the availability of necessary materials, I find the Council contributed to the delay by six months, which is fault.

Window and gate replacement

23. Miss X reported a cracked window in July 2020. The Council’s target to replace the glass was three working days. The repair was completed in late August. This is a delay of over a month and is fault.
24. The Council ordered a replacement to an access gate at the property in August 2019. The target for completion was early September. It was reported complete in March 2020. This is a delay of 6 months and is fault.

Pests

25. Miss X reported issues with mice in the property. In November 2019, the Council visited to inspect and produced a report in January 2020 with recommended proofing works. The target for completion was February 2020.
26. This work remains outstanding over two years later. The Council said it attempted to arrange an appointment, but Miss X asked to rearrange this due to COVID-19. However, the Council’s target for completing this work was before any COVID-19 restrictions were introduced. Had the Council carried out the works in time, COVID-19 would not have affected it. As a result, these works were delayed by over two years. This is fault.

Damp and mould

27. Miss X reported issues with damp and mould in the entranceway to the property which was spreading to the rest of the flat. The Council raised a repair in November 2021 with a seven working day target to “box in and insulate”.
28. In January 2022, contractors visited the property. The Council recorded that Miss X asked the contractor to leave using foul language. Miss X said the contractor had explained that the work they were there to complete would not resolve the issue and that damp treatment and weatherproofing works were needed first. She denied using any foul language.
29. Internal emails from February 2022 show that the Council accepted that its account of what happened was inaccurate and that it owed Miss X an apology. The emails also show that the contractor reported that the proposed works “will not resolve [the] issue but may hold [it] back for a time.” The Council’s records show this repair was reported complete in March 2022 but the records also show internal uncertainty about whether this was the case and what works had been completed. The Council’s handling of this was fault.

External stairs

30. The Council has a statutory duty to consult with other occupants of the building who have bought their flats about works to the building. The timescales for this process are also statutorily defined and include two 30-day notification periods. The Council followed the required process from January 2022.
31. Miss X says she first reported that the stairs were unsafe when she moved into the property in 2019. The Council knew the steps were unsafe from at least June 2021 when Miss X wrote to the Council and provided pictures. In October 2021, the Council did some temporary remedial work to the stairs.
32. I consider the Council should have started the statutory consultation process much earlier, and by June 2021 at the latest. Had it done so, the process would have been complete by September, allowing works to begin. Instead, works on the stairs have not started. This is a delay of a year and is fault.

Injustice

33. I have found fault by the Council for delay completing repairs to Miss X’s temporary accommodation. This amounts to over five years of delay across the various issues.
34. The delays in repairs to windows and the door and external gate meant that Miss X did not feel secure in her home. This is a significant injustice. Especially given the move to the property was to keep her and the children safe.
35. The external stairs are a serious safety concern for Miss X and her children. The stairs are intended to be a fire escape for the property. Failure to maintain them caused Miss X avoidable stress and could have put the family at risk of harm. This is a significant injustice to Miss X.
36. The Council accused Miss X of using foul language towards one of its contractors when asking him to leave. The records show this is not what happened, and the Council has not apologised. Further, the works the contractor was there to do were, on balance, not sufficient to address the problem. Miss X would therefore continue to have problems with leaks, damp, and mould. This is an injustice to Miss X.
37. The records show that Miss X had to go to significant time and trouble pursuing the repairs with the Council. This is an injustice to Miss X.

Suitability

38. The law says temporary accommodation must be suitable. This is an ongoing duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.2)
39. Decisions about suitability have a statutory right of review and then an appeal to court on a point of law. (Housing Act 1996, s202)
40. In several emails since 2019, Miss X told the Council she thought the property was unsuitable. The Council should have made a new decision about suitability. In a letter to Miss X in January 2022, the Council said the property was “fit for purpose.” If this was a decision about suitability, it should have set out Miss X’s statutory right to review and then appeal to court. Failure to do so was fault. This denied Miss X her statutory rights. This is a significant injustice to Miss X.

Allocations

41. Every local housing authority must publish an allocations scheme that sets out how it prioritises applicants, and its procedures for allocating housing.  All allocations must be made in strict accordance with the published scheme. (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(1) & (14))
42. The Council places applicants who qualify to join its housing register in a priority band from Band A (highest priority) to Band D (lowest priority).
43. The Council’s scheme says homeless applicants who are in temporary accommodation will be placed in Band B.
44. Miss X’s housing application is in Band B. She says her circumstances, including the disrepair in her property, mean she should be in Band A.
45. The Ombudsman cannot question a decision about housing priority if the Council took all relevant information into account and followed its published allocations scheme.
46. In this case, there is no evidence the Council failed to consider relevant information or departed from its published scheme. I therefore find no fault in how the Council considered Miss X’s priority for housing.
47. Miss X says she needs a certain type of property in a particular part of the Council’s area to keep herself and her children safe. To protect Miss X’s identity, I have not included details of the type or area in this decision.
48. The Council has not agreed that this property type is necessary for an offer to be suitable. However, it has not properly communicated to Miss X its reasons for this. This is fault.
49. The Council’s records show that in July 2019, it identified this property type as necessary for any temporary accommodation to be suitable. It seems likely that the same would be the case for a permanent offer unless circumstances have changed.
50. Miss X is living with uncertainty about whether the Council will offer the type of property she says she needs. This is an injustice to Miss X.

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Agreed action

51. To remedy the injustice to Miss X from the faults I have identified the Council has agreed to:
• Apologise to Miss X in writing
• Pay Miss X £5,400 in recognition of the impact of the delays completing repairs, being £150 a month since she moved into the property
• Pay Miss X £500 in recognition of her avoidable time and trouble, uncertainty and missed review rights
• Confirm to Miss X in writing:
1. the works needed to address the damp and mould, following further inspection if needed.
2. the status and expected completion date of all outstanding repairs.
3. whether the Council accepts Miss X needs a particular property type and area for any permanent offer to be suitable and if not, the reasons why.
52. The Council should take this action within four weeks of my final decision.
53. The Council should also take the following action to improve its services:
• Share this decision with staff in the relevant departments.
• Identify and implement learning from this complaint to improve the time taken to address significant repairs and communication among residents, the Council, and its contractors.
• Remind relevant staff that any decision that temporary accommodation is suitable should set out the statutory right to review and then appeal to court. Amend any template letters as necessary.
54. The Council should tell the Ombudsman about action it has taken within three months of my final decision.

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Final decision

55. I have completed my investigation. The Council was at fault. The action I have recommended is a suitable remedy for the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman