Summary: The Council failed to seek evidence about the domestic abuse Ms X reported in a trauma-informed way. This caused her avoidable distress while she sought homelessness support. The Council also failed to notify her of a key decision in relation to her homelessness, failed to offer her interim accommodation and gave her incomplete advice about her housing options. In recognition of the uncertainty, frustration and distress caused the Council has agreed to apologise, pay Ms X £850 and take action to improve its services.

Summary: Ms X complained the Council has not reviewed her priority on its housing register. Ms X says she continues to live in overcrowded conditions. We have found the Council at fault as Ms X’s priority has not been reviewed. To remedy the injustice caused the Council agreed to apologise, make a payment to Ms X for the uncertainty caused, re-consider her priority and carry out a service improvement.

Summary: Mr X complained about how the Council handled his request for a loan to cover rent and deposit under the Council’s rent deposit scheme when he moved into private rented accommodation. Mr X said unclear advice from a housing officer meant he borrowed the money from a friend to cover the payments which the Council subsequently refused to reimburse. There was no fault in how the Council applied its scheme or how it explained the scheme to Mr X. However, the Council was unclear and contradictory in its complaint responses when explaining why it would not reimburse the money. The Council has agreed apologise to Mr X for the confusion it caused him.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint. There was no fault in the Council giving Miss X’s housing application Band D priority.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s refusal to increase her housing register priority on urgent medical and welfare grounds. There is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

Summary: Miss X complained about the way the Council dealt with her housing application. We found no fault in the way the Council made its decision. However, we found fault with the Council’s delay in completing a review. This caused frustration to Miss X and the Council will apologise for this and make service improvements.

Summary: Miss X complains the Council offered her accommodation out of borough in an unsafe area. We do not find fault with the Council as it followed the relevant law and guidance.

Summary: Mr X complains the Council has not properly considered his housing priority. The Council is not at fault.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s allocation of housing to a homeless applicant in 2023. It was reasonable for Miss X to ask for a review of suitability when the property was offered.

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s offer of shared interim accommodation because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s provision of suitable temporary accommodation under its homelessness duty. The complainant requested a review of suitability and has a further right of appeal to the County Court.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint work carried out to improve the complainant’s home’s energy efficiency. This is because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

Summary: The Council failed to inform Mr X of its decision that he was not homeless in March 2023, which caused him uncertainty. The Council later failed to make further enquiries into a disclosure that Mr X may have been homeless due to domestic abuse, which caused him further uncertainty. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X for the injustice caused and carry out service improvements. We have not investigated Mr X’s complaint about his banding on the housing register as there is no worthwhile outcome achievable from further investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council’s offer of temporary accommodation to a homeless applicant. It was reasonable for her to seek a review of suitability which she subsequently did.

Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s handling of his housing application and said his home is overcrowded. He said this impacted his family’s physical and mental health. The Council was not at fault.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council enforcing the conditions of an improvement notice by proposing to take remedial action and charge the building owner. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the complainant’s priority on the housing register. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Miss X’s homelessness. The Council properly reached its decision that Miss X’s temporary accommodation is suitable. There are not good enough reasons to investigate other points.

Summary: Mr X complained about how the Council handled his homelessness applications. He said the Council’s actions impacted his mental health. There was fault in the way the Council was not clear why it offered Mr X accommodation, did not accept a review request and delays in the complaint process. The fault we identified raised Mr X’s expectations and he was frustrated by the delays. The Council should apologise, make a financial payment and provide guidance to relevant staff.

Summary: Miss X complained the Council failed to rehouse her to a larger property on medical grounds and failed to properly respond to her complaint. The Council was not at fault when it decided Miss X did not have a medical need for an extra bedroom. It accepted it was at fault for placing Miss X on a shortlist for an unsuitable property and for a delay in responding to her complaint. It apologised and offered to make a payment to Miss X. We consider this a suitable remedy.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the suitability of accommodation provided by the Council to end the complainant’s homelessness. This is because the complainant could reasonably appeal the housing decision in county court under the statutory appeals procedure.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council owned property next door damaging the complainant’s property. This is because we have no remit to consider complaints about the management of social housing.

Summary: Miss X complained about the Council’s actions regarding her temporary homeless accommodation, linked to costs of running a dehumidifier at one property and the suitability of a second property she later moved to. There was evidence of fault in the condition of the first property. The Council has already apologised and made payments to Miss X for electricity costs and to remedy the injustice caused by the issues. There was no fault in how the Council conducted a suitability review on the second property. I am satisfied any injustice to Miss X has already been remedied.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s consideration of his housing register application. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council providing temporary accommodation which was allegedly unsuitable. This is because the evidence suggests the Council had no notice of any issues from the complainant at the time and therefore could not reasonably investigate. There is insufficient evidence the accommodation was unsuitable.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council placing Miss X in temporary accommodation which she says is unsuitable. It was reasonable for her to ask for a statutory review of the decision and she had a further right of appeal to the courts once this was decided.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to move a tenant from a social housing tenancy due to disrepair. We cannot investigate complaints about tenancy management and disrepair by social housing landlords.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions when Mr X reported his neighbours’ behaviour. We have no legal power to investigate the Council’s actions as a registered social housing provider. We will not investigate the actions of the Environmental Health team as there is insufficient evidence of fault.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about liability for repairs to Mr X’s shared driveway. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. There is insufficient indication of fault by the Council plus Mr X can take the Council to court to determine any Council liability.