Council told to apologise to private landlord after taking "too long" to apply to Court of Protection for permission to end woman's tenancy after she lost capacity

In a report the Ombudsman said the landlord’s tenant received housing benefit from the council, which was paid directly to the landlord.

In May 2021, the tenant went into hospital. By July, they had moved to a care home.

Haringey’s social services told the landlord the tenant did not have the mental capacity to terminate their tenancy, so it would have to apply to the Court of Protection for permission to end the tenancy on their behalf.

The landlord responded to social services' requests for information about the tenancy. In October, social services said the matter was with the council’s legal team.

The report notes the landlord “regularly chased” the council for updates, which said the matter was with its legal team.

The council continued to pay housing benefit until August 2022. It later reclaimed an overpayment of housing benefit (over £3,000) from March (when the housing benefit team learned the tenant was no longer living in the property) to August 2022.

The landlord did not appeal the council’s decision to recover the overpayment.

In October 2022, the council made an application to the Court of Protection.

In December, the Court told the council it needed to make the application on a different form. The council submitted the correct form in February 2023.

The Court of Protection made an order in March 2023, giving permission for the council to end the tenancy, but the council did not receive the order until June 2023.

The council ended the tenancy in July 2023, and the landlord sold the property a few months later.

In October 2023, the landlord complained about the failure to pay housing benefit while also preventing it from ending the tenancy and taking possession of the property. The council did not respond.

Investigating the complaint, the Ombudsman concluded that the council took “far too long” to apply to the Court of Protection for permission to end the tenancy, noting that it first identified the need to do so in July 2021, but didn’t submit an application until October 2022.

However, the Ombudsman found this did not result in the landlord losing out on housing benefit payment to cover the tenant’s rent for two reasons:

• The tenant was not eligible for housing benefit after they moved to a care home;
• If there had been no delay in applying to the Court for permission to end the tenancy, the landlord would have been able to sell the property sooner.

The report concluded: “It is not possible to identify a financial loss resulting from this delay. Nevertheless, the landlord was put to significant trouble in pursuing the council for updates and in chasing a response to its complaint. This warrants an apology.”

To remedy the injustice caused, the council was recommended to write to the landlord apologising for the delay in applying to the Court of Protection for permission to end the tenancy, and the time and trouble caused by chasing updates and making the complaint.

According to the Ombudsman, the council has agreed to this action.

Cllr Lucia das Neves, Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care and Wellbeing at the London Borough of Haringey said: "Our handling of this case fell below the standards expected and we have apologised for the mistakes made.

“We have taken the Ombudsman’s findings seriously and are reviewing our procedures to ensure that similar delays do not occur in future cases.  

“We are committed to improving our service and communication with landlords and other stakeholders.”

Lottie Winson