Summary: Mrs X’s complaint about matters between 2020 and 2022 is late and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate it now. Mrs X had a right of appeal to court about the suitability of her temporary accommodation. The Council was at fault for delay accepting homelessness duties and poor communication. It has already offered a suitable remedy for the injustice this caused.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained that the Council did not provide proper help with her housing from 2020 onwards. She says she needed to flee domestic abuse and the Council:
• failed to recognise she was homeless before August 2023;
• wrongly assessed her priority for social housing;
• provided unsuitable interim and temporary accommodation; and
• failed to properly consider its duties under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 when it offered her a tenancy in the private sector to end its homelessness duty.
2. As a result, Mrs X says she and her children experienced avoidable distress which affected their mental health.

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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 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)
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. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), 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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What I have not investigated

7. Mrs X complained about matters from 2020 onwards. She applied to join the Council’s housing register in 2021 and 2022. In 2022, the Council awarded her silver band and backdated this to 2021. This was because it accepted Mrs X needed to move to its area to access support.
8. In response to Mrs X’s complaint in 2024, the Council accepted that it was wrong not to accept her application sooner. It said it should also have identified that she was homeless.
9. These matters happened more than 12 months before Mrs X complained to the Ombudsman. They are therefore late. While I recognise Mrs X and her family lived in difficult and stressful circumstances, I do not consider there are reasons I should exercise discretion to investigate these matters now. The decisions about her priority on the housing register told her how to complain to the Ombudsman. It was reasonable for her to do so.
10. I have therefore considered matters from May 2023 onwards.

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How I considered this complaint

11. I considered the complaint and the information Mrs X and the Council provided.
12. I referred to the Ombudsman's Guidance on Remedies, a copy of which can be found on our website.
13. 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

Homeless law and guidance

14. Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities (the Code) set out councils’ powers and duties to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.
15. If someone contacts a council seeking accommodation or help to obtain accommodation and gives ‘reason to believe’ they ‘may be’ homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days, the council has a duty to make inquiries into what, if any, further duty it owes them. The threshold for triggering the duty to make inquiries is low. The person does not have to complete a specific form or approach a particular department of the council. (Housing Act 1996, section 184 and Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraphs 6.2 and 18.5)
16. A council must secure interim accommodation for applicants and their household if it has reason to believe they may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need. (Housing Act 1996, section 188)
17. If councils are satisfied applicants are homeless and eligible for assistance, they must take reasonable steps to secure accommodation. This is called the relief duty. When a council decides this duty has come to an end, it must notify the applicant in writing. The relief duty usually lasts 56 days. (Housing Act 1996, section 189B)
18. If, at the end of the relief duty, 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. This is called the main housing duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 193)
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 accommodation and accommodation provided under the main housing duty.  (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 17.2)
20. 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)
21. Certain decisions councils make about homelessness carry a statutory right of review. The review decision then carries a right of appeal to court on a point of law. Homeless applicants have a right to review the suitability of temporary accommodation provided under the main homelessness duty. (Housing Act 1996, s202)

Housing allocations

22. Every local housing authority must publish an allocations scheme that sets out how it prioritises housing applicants, and its procedures for allocating properties.  All allocations must be made in strict accordance with the published scheme. (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(1) & (14))
23. An allocations scheme must give reasonable preference to applicants in the following categories:
• homeless people;
• people in insanitary, overcrowded or unsatisfactory housing;
• people who need to move on medical or welfare grounds;
• people who need to move to avoid hardship to themselves or others;
  (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(3))
24. Applicants have a right to request a review of a council’s decision about the priority band they have been awarded.
25. The Council places applicants who qualify to join the housing register in a priority band from emergency band (highest priority) to bronze band (lowest priority).
26. The Council awards emergency band to applications with an exceptional and urgent need to move. It makes a direct offer of accommodation to people in this band. All other applicants can express an interest in available properties through the Council’s choice-based lettings scheme. This is called bidding.
27. So far as is relevant to this complaint, the Council awards gold band to applicants who need to move for welfare reasons. This includes applicants who need to move because of domestic abuse who are in temporary accommodation or a refuge under a homelessness duty.
28. So far as is relevant to this complaint, the Council awards silver band to applicants who need to move to the area to receive care or support and applicants owed homelessness duties.

Domestic Abuse Act 2021

29. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 introduced a new definition of domestic abuse. It also made changes to some other laws. Of relevance to this complaint, it changed the Housing Act 1985. This is the law which sets out the types of tenancies councils can grant as a landlord.
30. The Domestic Abuse Act says if a council is granting a tenancy, it must be a secure tenancy if:
1. The tenancy is offered to someone who is or was a secure tenant; and
2. The person was a victim of domestic abuse; and
3. The new tenancy is granted for reasons connected with the domestic abuse. (Domestic Abuse Act 2021, s79(2))
31. This only applies if a council decides to grant a tenancy. It does not change the law in the Housing Act 1996, as amended, which says that councils can end homelessness duties into private rented tenancies.

What happened

32. Mrs X lived in another council area with her children. She experienced domestic abuse from an ex-partner. The evidence shows this continued after the relationship ended. Mrs X wanted to flee her social housing tenancy and move to the Council’s area, where she had family support.
33. In July 2023, the Council’s records show it closed a homelessness case for Mrs X as “advice only”. Mrs X made another homeless application in August. The Council allocated it to an officer. Mrs X followed up with the Council a week later as no one had contacted her.
34. She complained to the Council two weeks later because she still had not heard from anyone.
35. In early September, the Council spoke to Mrs X. She explained that the abuse had escalated and she and her children had left their home. She was now staying in a relative’s one-bedroom flat. Her relative had moved in with other family to accommodate her.
36. The Council tried to call Mrs X twice over the next few days. Mrs X then contacted the Council twice over the following week.
37. In late September, the Council called Mrs X about her complaint. Mrs X explained that things had moved on and that she had now moved out of her tenancy. She said her children were not in school and that she wanted an update. Mrs X said she understood the Council was looking for emergency accommodation for her. The Council officer told Mrs X that it had to do a full assessment of her circumstances before it could do this.
38. The Council spoke to Mrs X to complete its assessment three days later, having made previous unanswered calls to Mrs X. Mrs X told the Council that her relative needed to move back in as the property was adapted for their disability needs. She said she thought her priority on the housing register should be higher.
39. A week later, in early October, the Council accepted the relief duty to Mrs X. It offered her a place in a refuge outside its area as interim accommodation. The records show it contacted refuges in its area first but there were no spaces. Mrs X said she didn’t think a refuge was suitable because of the impact on one of her children’s mental health. However, she moved into the refuge so her relative could return home and access the adaptations.
40. The Council also reassessed Mrs X’s application to the housing register. It increased her priority to gold band.
41. In November, Mrs X told the Council she was not happy remaining in the refuge. She said her children couldn’t go to school and she worried about her child’s mental health. The records show repeated further contact from Mrs X throughout November and December because she did not think the refuge was suitable.
42. In mid-December, the Council’s records show it requested self-contained accommodation for Mrs X. It made the same request again in early January 2024. In the second week of January, the Council wrote to Mrs X accepting the main housing duty to her.
43. The Council also wrote to Mrs X to say her placement at the refuge was now temporary accommodation and told her about her right to ask for a review of its suitability. Mrs X asked for a suitability review the same day.
44. The Council completed the statutory review in late March 2024. It found the refuge was suitable as temporary accommodation for Mrs X. By that time, she had moved into self-contained temporary accommodation.
45. Mrs X complained to the Council. In its response it:
• Accepted that it should have arranged a multi-agency meeting, especially as it had placed them in an out of area refuge
• Found fault with how it had communicated with Mrs X, as she had often had to chase the Council for updates
• Acknowledged it should have accepted the main housing duty to Mrs X in November 2023 and did not do so until January 2024.
46. To remedy the injustice to Mrs X, the Council said it would:
• Apologise
• award her emergency band on its housing register, backdated to November 2023 when it should have accepted the main housing duty
• pay her £600
47. In June, the Council offered Mrs X a tenancy in the private rented sector to end its main housing duty. Mrs X complained that this would not preserve her secure social tenancy. The Council withdrew the offer.

My findings

48. The Council should not have closed Mrs X’s case in July and should have decided what duty it owed Mrs X much sooner than October 2023. This delay was fault.
49. The Council has already accepted fault for its poor communication with Mrs X. I agree this was fault.
50. There was no fault in the Council’s assessment of Mrs X’s priority on the housing register. However, it agreed to award emergency band as part of the remedy for her complaint. This is the highest priority it can award.
51. The Council wrongly told Mrs X in September that it needed to complete an assessment before it could provide interim accommodation. This was fault. The duty arises if the Council has reason to believe an applicant might be homeless, eligible, and in priority need. However, this did not cause Mrs X a significant injustice. She was staying in her relative’s property. She told the Council the date she needed to leave and it provided interim accommodation.
52. Mrs X says the refuge was not suitable. The records show the Council considered Mrs X’s needs and circumstances before offering the accommodation. There is no evidence it was unsuitable for Mrs X and her children. Mrs X did not enrol her children in school while they lived in the refuge because it would be temporary and she was worried about the impact this would have on them. This was a choice for Mrs X to make. There was no fault by the Council.
53. The Council acknowledged its delay accepting the main housing duty was fault. This delayed Mrs X’s access to her statutory right to review the suitability of the refuge. However, the injustice to Mrs X is limited to avoidable frustration and uncertainty. This is because the review found the property was suitable.
54. Mrs X had a right of appeal to court if she disagreed with the review decision. We usually expect people to use these rights. In any event, Mrs X no longer lived in the refuge and so the matter became academic.
55. Under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, the Council only has to offer Mrs X a secure social housing tenancy if it offers her social housing. It does not have to offer her social housing to end its main housing duty. The Council’s stage one response to the complaint makes this clear. However, the Council’s stage two complaint response suggests it will make Mrs X an offer of social housing. In those circumstances, Mrs X’s confusion and distress when she received the offer of a private tenancy is understandable. However, the Council withdrew the offer. Therefore, there is no outstanding injustice to Mrs X.
56. There was fault by the Council which caused Mrs X injustice. However, I am satisfied that the actions it agreed to take in response to her complaint are sufficient to remedy this injustice. I have not, therefore, made any further recommendations.

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Final decision

57. I have completed my investigation. The Council has already accepted fault and identified a suitable remedy for the injustice caused.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman