Leicester City Council has been ordered to apologise and pay £200 for ‘trouble’ caused to a woman who raised concerns about gas safety checks and rats at temporary accommodation she was housed in when she was at risk of being made homeless.

The woman complained to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) which branded record keeping by the council ‘unacceptable administrative practice’ .

It found the authority had failed to deal with issues she raised having accepted a homelessness duty to her.

The woman’s complaint centred around the council not keeping satisfactory records of the complaints she had made about the property and the landlord, and also the action it had taken in response.

The woman, named Ms B in an anonymous ombudsman report, also said that she doubted a gas safety certificate produced by the landlord was the same one that she had been shown when she moved in.

The LGO investigation report revealed that the date on a gas safety certificate on the council’s records has been altered.

It reads: “t looks as if it has been changed from March 3, 2016 to March 1 or 2.”

Ms B, who was first placed in the temporary accommodation in March 2016, blames the way the council responded to her complaints for her having to bid on a three bed home, when a four bed would be more suitable for her and her family.

When Ms B complained about rats at the temporary accommodation, the report states that: “The council’s records are not a complete record of the contact from Ms B or the action taken by the officer in response.

Leicester City Council, City Hall
Leicester City Council, City Hall

“This failure to keep a proper record is fault.”

Further criticisms of record keeping at the authority were documented throughout the report.

One extract reads: “The council does not keep a record of when it receives documents from the landlord. This is not an acceptable administrative practice.

“The council should have a record of when it receives documents and a copy of those documents on the property record.”

Ms B also took issue with what she told the ombudsman was a ‘lack of support’ by the council, when her landlord had served an eviction notice at the end of October.

Council records show that throughout November Ms B was in regular contact with the authority about what would happen next.

In December the council said that Ms B could bid on three bedroom homes and that it would adapt a downstairs room into a fourth bedroom so that it would be easier for her to find a new home.

She made a successful bid on such a property at the end of January. The council needed to do some work to the property and arranged with Ms B’s landlord that she could stay there until the property was available.

The ombudsman report states: “I recognise this would have been a very stressful time for Ms B being threatened with eviction but there was a limit to what the council could do.

“The council’s records do not show it provided adequate information or responses to Ms B until December. This was fault.”

Ms B first made a complaint about the case to the council in March 2017, she did not receive any response until July. The ombudsman said that the delay was too long and therefore the council was at fault.

Councillor Andy Connelly

Responding to the ombudsman’s ruling, Councillor Andy Connelly, assistant city mayor responsible for housing, said: "We accept the ombudsman’s findings and acknowledge that there was an unreasonable delay in the way we handled Ms B's complaint.

“In recognition of this delay, we have apologised to Ms B and paid her £200.

“We now have a case management system in place which allows us to keep track of all communications with our service users and chase the progress of cases more effectively.

“Private rented properties must have safety certificates in place to be accepted onto our rental schemes. Staff who check standards in these properties are qualified in the nationally-recognised housing health and safety rating system.”