West Suffolk Council (25 010 198)

Statement Upheld Allocations 16-Jun-2026

Summary: Mrs B complained about the Council’s handling of her housing application and delays in it reviewing her banding. The Council was at fault. It failed to properly consider medical evidence Mrs B had sent it, delayed carrying out a review, and its communication was poor. As a result, Mrs B suffered distress and frustration, and she missed the opportunity to be offered a property she bid on. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs B, make a symbolic payment, and issue staff guidance.

Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (25 011 493)

Statement Upheld Allocations 16-Jun-2026

Summary: Ms D says the Council incorrectly withdrew an offer of housing and changed her housing band in 2025. I have found the Council at fault because it failed to clarify whether Ms D was eligible for her former banding level. Its review of the case was flawed and gave incorrect reasons for why the banding had changed. I have asked the Council to carry out a new review.

London Borough of Barking & Dagenham (25 013 989)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Homelessness 16-Jun-2026

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to arrange temporary accommodation in April 2024. The complaint is late. There is no evidence Ms X could not have complained earlier and no good reasons to decide to investigate now.

London Borough of Barnet (25 015 162)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Allocations 16-Jun-2026

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application priority and its offer of unsuitable accommodation which resulted in it ending its homelessness duty to Mr X. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s assessment of the housing application. It was reasonable for Mr X to appeal the homelessness statutory review decision by using his right of appeal under the homelessness legislation.

London Borough of Croydon (25 015 415)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 16-Jun-2026

Summary: The Council was at fault for how it handled Mr X’s homelessness. The Council failed to properly consider and record whether it owed Mr X an interim housing duty. The Council also did not do enough to relieve Mr X’s homelessness and to enable it to determine if he was in priority need. The Council’s failure to issue a review decision on Mr X’s homelessness application within the statutory timescale was also fault. It was also at fault for its lack of communication, delayed complaint response and poor record keeping. The Council will issue the review decision and make a symbolic payment to Mr X to recognise the avoidable uncertainty and frustration caused by its faults.

Somerset Council (25 016 092)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Allocations 16-Jun-2026

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her housing register application. There is insufficient evidence of fault causing sufficient injustice to justify our involvement.

London Borough of Lewisham (25 016 100)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Homelessness 16-Jun-2026

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to properly assess her homelessness application. There is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation and it was reasonable for her to ask for a statutory review of the Councl’s homelessness decisions.

Fareham Borough Council (25 022 535)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Managing council tenancies 16-Jun-2026

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s provision of its housing duties. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision to refer to children’s services. Also, we would expect Mrs X to use her right of review to contest the Council’s offer of permanent accommodation, and we cannot achieve the outcome Mrs X wants.

North Yorkshire Council (25 024 044)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Homelessness 16-Jun-2026

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about how the Council handled her housing application. This is because it is late and there is no good reason to investigate now.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets (24 017 935)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 15-Jun-2026

Summary: Miss X complained about how the Council handled her homelessness case. We found fault because the Council failed to consider its duties in a timely manner, offer her appropriate interim accommodation, send appropriate decision letters and make a timely decision about its main homelessness duty. This caused Miss X avoidable distress, frustration and uncertainty. The Council made a remedy offer to Miss X of permanent accommodation it considered was suitable. This did not remedy the lack of interim accommodation or the overall distress caused to her. It has therefore agreed to make an apology and payment to her to remedy the injustice caused.