Summary: We found fault on Miss Y’s complaint about the Council failing to reimburse the deposit and advance payment of rent it agreed to pay. It delayed progressing her request and delayed telling her what documents she still needed to send. Communication with her was poor and not always accurate. The Council agreed to apologise for the fault, make a symbolic payment, and review why the delays and poor communication happened.

The complaint

1. Miss Y complains about the Council failing to:
1. reimburse the deposit and one month’s rent she paid her landlord which it had agreed to pay; and
2. acknowledge documents she sent under its complaints procedure and repeatedly asked her for the same information.
2. As a result, she was caused stress, frustration, and uncertainty for about 12 months. She has also been affected financially by the delay with the reimbursement.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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)
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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Miss Y, the Council’s response to my enquiries, as well as relevant law, policy, and guidance. I sent a copy of my draft decision to Miss Y and the Council. I considered the Council’s response.

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What I found

Council’s ‘Find your own’ accommodation process (incentive payment)

6. This is for when a resident has found a property. The tenancy agreement is between the landlord and tenant. The Council will pay one month’s rent in advance, and the deposit, as a one-off payment to secure the property.
7. Once the resident completes a form, the case officer checks it and associated documents. When all documents for compliances are checked, along with affordability checks, further verification is sent to the Acquisitions Team and copied to the payment officer for payment.

What happened

8. In early 2024, Miss Y presented herself to the Council as homeless as her landlord served a notice to evict her.
9. The Council issued her with a Personal Housing Plan (PHP). This is a document which sets out the steps that are going to be taken to help prevent someone becoming homeless.
10. In her PHP, the Council said it, ‘may be able to help you with 1-month deposit and 1 month’s rent in advance’. It went on to say, ‘We will assist you with rent deposit and agent fees if property found is deemed to be affordable and suitable for you’. She would need to complete a form to access the scheme and carry out an affordability check. The Council accepted including this in the PHP, without taking account of her savings and income, was a mistake.
11. In July, she told the Council she had found private accommodation to live in and would move there during September. She wanted to remain on the Council’s housing register but wanted to know if it could help with the costs. The Council replied saying it could provide her with support with the, ‘first months rent and deposit or a refund if you have paid it yourself’. At the time, the Council’s scheme offered financial support to try and resolve homelessness.
12. It explained to process a refund request, she needed to provide: proof of payment; full tenancy agreement; gas certificate, electricity certificate; energy performance certificate (EPC).
13. In July, Miss Y sent the Council a copy of an email received from the landlord at the start of the tenancy along with documents requested. (EPC, gas safety record, tenancy deposit certificate, electrical installation condition report).
14. In August, Miss Y wrote to the Council. She sent her bank statement confirming payment of the deposit and first month’s rent, along with documents received from the agent (EPC, gas safety record, tenancy deposit certificate, electrical installation condition report). At the end of the month, she chased the Council having heard nothing.
15. The Council replied the following month saying it had not been sent any documents and asked her to re-send them. She did so shortly after.
16. In November, Miss Y chased the Council having heard nothing.
17. In January 2025, she again contacted the Council as she had still not heard anything. She was told the matter would be chased.
18. In February, the Council told her the relevant team had been chased. If she did not receive the refund at the start of the following week, Miss Y was to contact the officer again. Miss Y did so and was again told the officer would chase for a ‘clearer response and precise update.’
19. In March, Miss Y sent the tenancy agreement, confirmation from the agent of what she paid, and copy gas certificate. These were documents the Council said were still needed at the start of the month.
20. An internal email in June showed the officer chasing for the refund and in July sending the missing documents requested from Miss Y to another officer. The Council confirmed the payment request was not sent to the finance team by the case officer until June.
21. The Council replied to her stage 1 complaint. It said the housing team had evidence of continued chasing of the finance team. The payment system was reviewed because of the delays which fell below the level of service it wanted to give. Her case formed part of a backlog before the process was changed. She was told she needed to provide two additional documents (gas and electrical certificate). The Council apologised for the delay, poor processes, as well as poor communication.
22. In August, when the Council was preparing the stage 2 response, the officer said she had sent everything over to another team which were not waiting for any documents from her. The other team responded later that month saying one of the documents had expired in 2024 and there was no full copy of the tenancy on file.
23. The Council sent her its response to her stage 2 complaint. This told her the gas certificate had expired, that it needed her latest bank statement, contact number, email address, a copy of the tenancy agreement (current and earlier), and a copy of the payment receipt. It did not uphold her complaint.
24. The Council agreed to honour the offer originally made and paid her the deposit and the first month’s rent in March 2026. This totalled £3,553 (rent: £1,650 a month and deposit: £1,903).

My findings

25. I found fault on this complaint. In reaching this view, I took account of the following:
1. The Council agreed to refund her first month’s rent and deposit. When it agreed to do so, it explained what documents she had to send with any request for a refund.
2. When she asked for a refund, she sent the Council copy documents but, this did not include all those it had told her it would need.
3. When she sent further copy documents the following month, again, this did not include all those it had told her it would need.
4. For four months, she heard nothing from the Council. During this period, the Council could have clarified what documents were still outstanding and whether any had expired. There was no evidence her request was being processed.
5. Although she was told the relevant team had been chased when she contacted the Council in February 2025, there was no evidence this was correct.
6. It took the Council until March to tell her what documents it still needed from her.
7. The Council accepted the payment request was not sent to the finance team by the case officer until June, 11 months after Miss Y had been in touch about a refund.
8. It took the Council a further nine months before the payment was finally made to her. In total, she had to wait about 20 months for the refund. In response to my draft decision, the Council argued we needed to reduce this period to take account of the fact it sent its stage 2 response in August 2025 and shortly afterwards, she complained to us. We were unable to process it further, due to high volumes of complaints, until early the following year. While correct, there was nothing preventing the Council from taking steps to resolve this complaint during this period. Although Miss Y had not sent the documents requested in its stage 2 response, there was also no evidence of the Council chasing Miss Y about it. The fact a complaint was lodged with us did not prevent either party from making attempts at resolving it.
9. Communication with Miss Y was poor. There were long periods when she was not told what was happening. When she was told what was happening, this was not always correct.
10. I am satisfied the fault found caused Miss Y avoidable injustice. She had the frustration, stress, and inconvenience of waiting, believing the payment might be paid imminently, and chasing the Council time and time again about it.

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Action

26. I considered our guidance on remedies along with the time taken before the Council finally made the payment, as well as Miss Y’s contact chasing the issue throughout this period. I also took account of the fact Miss Y had not sent all the documents needed initially. In addition, I considered the Council’s point that Miss Y failed to respond to the Council’s request for documents and information when it sent her its stage 2 complaints response. I also had to take account of its failure to chase her for these documents when she did not send them. The fact she had made a complaint to us during this period did not prevent the Council, or Miss Y, from acting to mitigate injustice already caused.
27. The Council agreed to take the following action within four weeks of the final decision on this complaint:
1. Send Miss Y a written apology for: delaying the processing of her refund request; failing to give her accurate and timely information about progress; not telling her at the earliest opportunity what documents she still needed to send.
2. Pay £300 to Miss Y for the injustice caused by the identified fault.
3. Review why the delays happened and take steps to ensure they cannot be repeated on future cases.
4. Review why there was poor communication with Miss Y and take steps to ensure this cannot be repeated on future cases.
28. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

29. I found fault on Miss Y’s complaints against the Council. The agreed actions remedy the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman