Summary: The Council was at fault for failure to provide Ms X suitable temporary accommodation when risk of domestic abuse and significant disrepair made her current accommodation unsuitable. The Council was also at fault for its failure to communicate effectively with Ms X and with another Council. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Ms X, and act to improve its service.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained that the Council failed to provide suitable temporary accommodation when significant disrepair and an ongoing risk of domestic abuse made her current accommodation unsuitable. As a result, she and her children remain in unsuitable accommodation and she lives with continuing anxiety about the risk to her and her family.
2. Ms X also complained that the Council failed to communicate effectively with her and with another council. She says this has delayed her securing suitable and secure accommodation.

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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. 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 has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. Ms X complained about matters starting in 2019. I have not exercised discretion to consider all of the intervening period. I have started my investigation in November 2020, from when Ms X was in regular contact with the Council about the issues complained of. I have exercised discretion to consider events from November 2020 because the Council did not treat Ms X’s repeated contact as a complaint until 2022 and because it was understandable that she allowed some time for the Council to secure a move for her before complaining it had failed to do so. The records are complete and so I have enough evidence to make a sound decision.
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 considered the complaint and the information Ms X 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. Ms 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

Temporary accommodation

11. Temporary accommodation is accommodation provided to homeless applicants as part of a council’s main homelessness duty.
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.  (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.2)
13. Councils must assess whether accommodation is suitable for each household individually. Whether accommodation is suitable will depend on the relevant needs, requirements and circumstances of the homeless person and their household. (Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.4 & 17.9)
14. The duty to provide suitable accommodation is immediate, non-deferrable, and unqualified. Elkundi, R (On the Application Of) v Birmingham City Council [2022] EWCA Civ 601

Background

15. Ms X is homeless. The Council accepted a main housing duty to her in 2016.
16. The Council provided Ms X and her children with temporary accommodation in another Council’s area. I will call this Borough 2. Ms X remains living in this temporary accommodation at the time of writing.
17. In 2019, Ms X’s former partner tried to abduct one of her children. As a result, the court granted Ms X a non-molestation order for one year.

What happened

18. In November 2020, Ms X told the Council the non-molestation order was about to expire and she was worried about the safety of her family. The Council’s records show it told Ms X someone would contact her. There is no evidence the Council contacted Ms X following this request.
19. In April 2021, Ms X contacted the Council. She explained that the injunction preventing her ex-partner from contacting her had expired. She gave details of his poor mental health and erratic behaviour, which she thought increased the risk. Ms X gave the Council the reference numbers for her contacts with the police.
20. A few days later, Ms X contacted the Council for help to secure a property she had found in the private rented sector. There is no evidence of what, if any, action the Council took.
21. In August, Ms X contacted the Council again to ask for help to move because she didn’t feel safe. She provided details of another private rented property. Again, the records do not show what action the Council took to help Ms X secure this property or to explain why it would not do so.
22. In October, a social worker from Borough 2 contacted the Council to express concerns about the risk to Ms X in her current property. Ms X also contacted the Council to ask for help to move.
23. In November, the Council’s records said it would conduct a new suitability assessment. The Council completed this assessment in January 2022. This assessment says Ms X needs to move because of fear of violence from her ex-partner.
24. In March, the managing agent for the property contacted the Council to say:
• The wet room in the property was leaking into the living room
• The floor of the bathroom had rotted and was unsafe for Ms X and her family to use
• Ms X needed an urgent transfer to alternative accommodation because of the health and safety risk and not being able to use the bathroom facilities
25. In April, the Council records show it recorded Ms X’s accommodation as unsuitable.
26. In May, the Council identified a possible property for Ms X to move to. However, the Council could not get confirmation from the managing agents about when this property would be available. Ms X told the Council the leak was now affecting the electrics in the property and so she was not using the lights.
27. Ms X asked the Council to transfer her homeless application to Borough 2. If Borough 2 accepted the transfer, Ms X would be able to access its housing register to seek social housing in the area. Ms X wanted to stay in Borough 2 because both her children were settled in school. One of her children, who has special education needs, was close to sitting important exams.
28. Ms X complained to the Council in June. In July, the Council apologised to Ms X for the delay in moving her to suitable accommodation. Ms X asked for the Council to escalate her complaint to stage two in August.
29. In August, the managing agent confirmed to the Council that Ms X and her family would have to vacate the property for it to do the works needed to repair it.
30. In October, the Council offered to place Ms X and her children into a hotel while the managing agent did the necessary works. Ms X refused this. She said it would have too great an impact on her child’s disability.
31. The Council responded to Ms X’s stage two complaint at the end of October. It said:
• It should have moved Ms X into alternative temporary accommodation when she told it about the risk from her ex-partner
• The property was unsuitable due to the fear of violence and the level of disrepair
• an officer would contact Ms X within 10 days to complete an updated assessment of their needs
• it would liaise with Borough 2
• “things have not happened as they should and the repair issues in your home have continued much longer than we anticipated”
• “we will look to identify suitable alternative accommodation for you as soon as possible”
32. The Council did not uphold the complaint, however.
33. In November, the Council offered Ms X a property in Borough 2 as temporary accommodation. Ms X refused the property as being too far away from her children’s’ schools. The Council says that despite considering the offer suitable, it agreed to withdraw it.
34. In December, the Council put Ms X forward for a tenancy in a housing association property. She was not the successful applicant.
35. In February 2023, the Council contacted Borough 2 to ask if it would agree to a reciprocal arrangement. This means Borough 2 would offer Ms X a social housing tenancy in its area. In exchange, the Council would make an equivalent property available in its area for a household who wanted or needed to leave Borough 2.
36. In March 2023, Borough 2 agreed to the reciprocal arrangement.

My findings

Temporary accommodation

37. In April 2021, Ms X provided detailed information about the risk from her ex-partner, including crime reference numbers. The Council took no action to help Ms X move or to seek further information from the police. This was fault.
38. At this point, the Council had enough information to decide the property was unsuitable and Ms X needed to move. It failed to meet its statutory duty to provide suitable temporary accommodation. This was fault.
39. In April 2022, the Council recorded the property was unsuitable due to disrepair. Despite this, the Council did not make Ms X an offer of alternative accommodation until October. This was fault.
40. The Council says the property it offered was suitable. However, it agreed to withdraw the offer when Ms X challenged its suitability. The Council therefore continued to have a duty to provide Ms X with suitable accommodation.
41. As the Council accepted in response to Ms X’s complaint, it should have moved her sooner and it did not do so. This was fault. As a result, Ms X remains living in a property which is in serious disrepair and where she lives with ongoing fear about the risk to her and her children. This is a significant injustice to Ms X.

Communication with Borough 2

42. Ms X asked the Council about transferring her homelessness application to Borough 2 in May 2022. There is no evidence the Council took any action following this request. This was fault.
43. The Council committed to contacting Borough 2 in response to Ms X’s stage two complaint in October. It did not do so until February 2023, after I made my enquiries seeking evidence of the Council’s contact with Borough 2. This delay was fault.
44. Borough 2 agreed to a reciprocal arrangement in March. I find it likely it would have done so in May 2022 had the Council contacted it then. This means Borough 2 would have been looking for a property for Ms X 10 months sooner, were it not for the Council’s fault. I cannot say whether Borough 2 would have offered Ms X a property by now were it not for the fault and Ms X must live with this uncertainty. This is a significant injustice to Ms X.

Communication with Ms X

45. The Council committed to contacting Ms X in November 2020 and did not do so. This was fault.
46. The Council failed to follow up with Ms X when she contacted it about several private rented properties in 2021. This was fault.
47. In response to her stage two complaint in October 2022, the Council said an officer would contact Ms X within 10 days to do a new assessment of her needs. In response to my enquiries, the Council accepted that it had not yet done so five months later. This was fault.
48. It took the Council two months to respond to Ms X’s complaint at stage two. This is one month longer than the 20 working days in its complaint policy. This delay was fault.
49. These failures in communication caused Ms X avoidable distress and frustration at an already difficult time. This is an injustice to Ms X.

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Agreed action

50. To remedy the injustice from the faults I have identified the Council has agreed to:
• Apologise to Ms X
• Pay Ms X £5,800 in recognition of her time spent in unsuitable accommodation. This is:
1. £200 a month from April 2021 until March 2022 for the ongoing fear and risk of violence; and
2. £300 a month from April 2022 to the present to recognise the additional impact of the extensive disrepair.
• Pay Ms X £300 a month until the Council provides suitable alternative accommodation or otherwise ends its main housing duty to Ms X.
• Pay Ms X a further £500 in recognition of the avoidable distress, frustration, and missed opportunities caused by the Council’s poor communication.
51. The Council should take this action within four weeks of my final decision.
52. The Council should also take the following action to improve its services:
• Share a copy of this decision with staff in the relevant departments.
• Remind relevant staff that the duty to provide suitable temporary accommodation is immediate, non-deferrable, and unqualified.
• Remind relevant staff of the importance of responding to requests for contact in a timely way.
• Remind staff with responsibility for responding to complaints of the timescales in the Council’s complaint policy and to provide updates if there will be any delay in meeting those timescales.
53. The Council should tell the Ombudsman about the action is has taken within eight weeks of my final decision.

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Final decision

54. I have completed my investigation. There was fault by the Council. 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