Summary: There was fault by the Council. There was a delay in accepting the main housing duty and in offering Mrs X temporary accommodation. A payment for the extra time in unsuitable accommodation and service improvements remedy the injustice caused. There was also a failure to document the reasons that interim accommodation was suitable, which did not cause injustice to Mrs X.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall call Mrs X, complains the Council has not followed the correct process when dealing with housing and homeless applications from May 2022 onwards.
2. Mrs X complains her family had to sleep in their car until they were offered temporary accommodation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. 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

5. I read the papers put in by Mrs X and discussed the complaint with her.
6. I considered the Council’s comments about the complaint and any supporting documents it provided.
7. Mrs 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

Housing application

8. Mrs X made an application to the Council’s housing register. This application did not continue as the Council did not receive evidence that Mrs X had paid previous housing debts. Without this evidence, the Council could not complete the application so there is no fault.

Homelessness application

Law and guidance

9. Someone is threatened with homelessness if, when asking for assistance from the 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)

10. If councils are satisfied applicants are threatened with homelessness and eligible for assistance, they must help the applicants to secure that accommodation does not stop being available for their occupation. This is the prevention duty. In deciding what steps they are to take, councils must have regard to their assessments of the applicants’ cases. (Housing Act 1996, section 195)
11. Councils must take reasonable steps to help to secure suitable accommodation for any eligible homeless person. This is the relief duty. When a council decides this duty has come to an end, it must tell the applicant in writing (Housing Act 1996, section 189B)
12. If a council is satisfied an applicant is homeless, eligible for assistance, and has a priority need the council has a duty to secure that accommodation is available for their occupation. (Housing Act 1996, section 193 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 15.39)
13. After completing inquiries, the council must give the applicant a decision in writing. If it is an adverse decision, the letter must fully explain the reasons. All letters must include information about the right to request a review and the timescale for doing so. (Housing Act 1996, section 184, from 3 April 2018 Homelessness Code of Guidance 18.32 and 18.33)
14. There are two types of accommodation councils provide to certain homeless applicants: interim accommodation and temporary accommodation.
15. A council must secure accommodation for applicants and their household if it has reason to believe they may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need. This is called interim accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 188)
16. If, having made inquiries, the council is not satisfied an applicant is homeless, eligible, and in priority need, it will have no further accommodation duty.
17. If a council is satisfied an applicant is unintentionally homeless, eligible for assistance, and has a priority need the council has a duty to secure that accommodation is available for their occupation. This is called the main housing duty. The accommodation a council provides until it can end this duty is called temporary accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 193)
18. If a council ends its interim accommodation duty, but then goes on to accept the main housing duty, it still has a duty to provide temporary accommodation.
19. 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.  This duty applies to interim and temporary accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.2)
20. Interim and temporary accommodation can be the same physical property. What changes is the legal duty under which a council provides it. This is important because there is a statutory right to review the suitability of temporary accommodation. This then carries a right of appeal to county court on a point of law. There is no statutory right to review the suitability of interim accommodation.

Key facts

21. Mrs X made a homelessness application to the Council in October 2022. Her family had been served a Section 21 Notice to leave their rented property. A personal housing plan was sent to her on 14 October 2022. The Council sent a decision letter saying it accepted the prevention duty to Mrs X on 31 October 2022.
22. The Council made Mrs X an offer of private rented accommodation to prevent her homelessness on 12 December 2022. Mrs X appealed the suitability of this offer on 3 January 2023.
23. The Council responded to the appeal on 17 May 2023 to say the accommodation was considered suitable but was no longer available. Mrs X told the Council she had negotiated with her landlord to stay in the property until 21 June 2023.
24. The Council accepted the relief duty to Mrs X on 21 June 2023. Mrs X was offered interim accommodation on 16 June 2023 but did not accept as she considered it unsuitable. The Council reviewed the offer and considered the accommodation suitable. Mrs X did not accept it and said she was viewing other properties.
25. Mrs X told the Council on 28 July 2023 that she no longer wished to take court action to prevent her eviction. She told the Council she was viewing another property to rent.
26. The Council offered Mrs X further interim accommodation on 17 August 2023 but she said she could not accept it as it was out of the area for her children’s schools. The Council said this was a suitable offer and so did not intend to make further offers of interim accommodation. The Council said that this property was 8 miles from the children’s school and so was considered a suitable offer.
27. Mrs X told the Council that her family was living in their car on 18 August. Her partner then told the Council the children were staying with their grandparents.
28. The Council said that Mrs X was made a discretionary offer of interim accommodation on 18 October 2023. Mrs X accepted this property.
29. The Council wrote to Mrs X on 13 November 2023 to say the relief duty had come to an end. The Council accepted the main duty to Mrs X on 13 November 2023. At this point the interim accommodation became temporary accommodation and Mrs X then had a right to a review of the suitability of the accommodation.

My analysis

30. The Council initially accepted the prevention duty to Mrs X and made her an offer of accommodation. Mrs X refused this offer and another 2 offers of interim accommodation after the Council accepted the relief duty towards her. Mrs X remained in her rented property until August 2023.
31. Mrs X has complained the interim accommodation offered to her on several occasions was unsuitable. I asked the Council to provide evidence of the decision making process when finding suitable interim accommodation for Mrs X. The Council said ‘there are no specific notes on the Council’s database for all offers of interim accommodation. The housing team would assess the suitability to meet Mrs X’s needs and circumstances including the location, affordability and type of premises’.
32. The law does not say what type of accommodation the authority should provide. But there is a legal duty for authorities to ensure the accommodation is “suitable” for the applicant and household members (section 206).
33. There is no evidence to show how the Council considered what would be suitable for Mrs X and her household before offering any interim accommodation. Not to keep accurate records of this decision making was fault.
34. However, when Mrs X complained the offers were not suitable, the Council reviewed the offers and explained why it considered they were suitable. It is likely, therefore, that the Council would have reached the same conclusion had it properly considered the suitability in advance of the offer. Mrs X said the first interim accommodation was too small but it was a two bedroom self contained property. The second interim accommodation was 8 miles from her children’s schools which, given the family have a car, is unlikely to be so far as to make the accommodation unsuitable.
35. On balance, these were suitable offers of interim accommodation. Therefore, there is no injustice to Mrs X arising from the Council’s fault. I consider that this fault can be remedied by a service improvement, recommending training for officers to ensure that the reasons for suitability for interim accommodation are noted on the file.
36. Mrs X explains that from August 2023 she was sleeping in her car. At this point Mrs X had been offered interim accommodation but did not accept it as it was too far from her children’s school. While I appreciate Mrs X complains she had to sleep in her car the Council had offered her alternative which she chose not to accept.
37. The Council was aware Mrs X had been evicted on 17 August 2023 but did not accept the main housing duty to her until two months later. The Council has said that this was because it did not have any information on where Mrs X was living and could not confirm she was living in her car as she said.
38. The Council accepted the relief duty on 21 June, this means it was satisfied Mrs X was homeless. The Council should have decided whether it owed the main duty after 56 days, by 17 August. That means, having discharged its interim accommodation duty because Mrs X refused offers, it should have offered Temporary Accommodation once it accepted the main duty.
39. However, in order to accept the main duty the Council had to be satisfied Mrs X was homeless. The Code allows an extra 15 working days to make additional inquiries to make a main duty decision. Mrs X had told the Council she was viewing a property to rent on 18 August, so the Council needed to make sure she hadn't secured something before it could accept the main duty. The Council contacted Mrs X on 22 August to ask her if the property was suitable. Mrs X told the Council on 24 August she was waiting to hear about the rental property. The Council contacted Mrs X against on 20 September 20 ask for an update. Mrs X told the Council on 25 September that the family had been sleeping rough for 6 weeks.
40. The Council should have accepted the main housing duty by 7 September, 15 working dates after 17 August. The Council asked Mrs X for information on 22 August but she did not provide it until 25 September. So, I find no fault up to this point.
41. It was fault for the Council not to have accepted the main housing duty on 25 September, once Mrs X told the Council she was still without accommodation. This would have meant that Mrs X would have been offered Temporary Accommodation a month earlier than it did. To remedy the injustice our remedies guidance recommends a payment of between £150-350 a month for time spent in unsuitable accommodation. I recommend a payment of £250, as the time spent was less than a month.
42. The Council has now accepted the main housing duty towards Mrs X and is looking to find permanent accommodation for her family. Once the main housing duty is accepted the interim accommodation becomes temporary accommodation. The Council should have written to Mrs X once the main housing duty was accepted giving her a right to a review of the suitability of the temporary accommodation. It did not and this was fault. The Council should remedy this by telling Mrs X of her right to a review of the suitability of the Temporary Accommodation.

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Agreed action

43. Within one month of the decision on this complaint the Council should:
• Pay Mrs X £250.
• Tell Mrs X of her right to a review of the suitability of her temporary accommodation.
44. Within two months of the decision on this complaint the Council should:
• Provide training to housing officers to ensure that decisions regarding suitability of accommodation are properly documented.
• Review its systems to ensure that main housing duty decisions are made within 56 days and that if an extra 15 working days is required, that this is properly documented.
45. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

46. I have completed my investigation of this complaint. This complaint is upheld, as there has been fault by the Council. This fault has caused injustice to Mrs X which is remedied by the steps outlined above.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman