The Housing Ombudsman has ordered a review into Bristol City Council after a vulnerable resident was made homeless.
The review, called a wider order, lets the Ombudsman instruct a landlord to look beyond a single complaint and identify wider failings.
Several maladministration was found after Bristol City Council had made a vulnerable resident homeless, and disposed of his belongings without knowledge or consent.
The resident’s mother brought the complaint to the Ombudsman on his behalf due to his vulnerabilities. He had emailed the landlord saying he intended to end his tenancy, asking it to contact him at his mother’s address.
The landlord told him he needed to complete a form. He did not do so and reasonably believed his tenancy remained active.
Months later, without contacting him to check, the landlord changed the resident’s locks, cancelled his housing benefit, and disposed of his possessions. When he called to query the lock change, staff told him he was still a tenant. He then spent a year in temporary accommodation and only received compensation through our investigation.
The Ombudsman’s review found that Bristol Council had made several failures in this instance, from failing to contact the resident before ending his tenancy and not considering his known vulnerabilities.
The council was also found not to have responded to the resident’s attempts at contact, keep adequate records or offer a meaningful apology.
“This case shows why landlords must see the person behind the complaint and ask questions when residents say something has gone wrong,” said Richard Blakeway, housing ombudsman.
“This could have been avoided.
“We would encourage all landlords to consult these findings as it may offer practical lessons for the way they operate.”
Bristol City Council has since arranged training for all its housing officers around communication and tenancy processes, reinforced record-keeping practices and committed to considering resident vulnerabilities in all tenancy-related actions.
Additionally, the council has introduced a new process to managing belongings left in properties including cataloguing items and providing secure storage.
In all wider orders, landlords are invited to provide a “learning statement.”
In a statement, Bristol City Council said: “We recognise that our handling of the resident’s notice to quit, our failure to take appropriate steps to understand his circumstances, and the subsequent disposal of his belongings fell far short of the standards we expect of ourselves and those rightly expected by our residents.
“We apologise unreservedly for the distress caused and are committed to learning from this case.
“We have already completed a comprehensive review of our procedures, including how we record and respond to resident contact and how we manage tenancy terminations and personal possessions left in properties.”
