Richmond Council has been found at fault for its handling of a woman's homelessness application, which caused her to build up rent arrears with her landlord last year.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has since ordered the council to apologise to the woman, known as Ms X, and pay her £500 to recognise the distress caused.

It must also provide her with interim accommodation as soon as possible and pay her landlord half of the outstanding arrears, as well as review all homelessness applications within the past 12 months.

The Ombudsman found that the council told Ms X that she was not homeless as she had a legal right to remain in her property until the expiry of a bailiff's warrant.

But the Ombudsman said that according to the law, the council must not treat someone as having accommodation unless it is accommodation which it would be reasonable for them to continue to occupy.

In this case, the council received information in February 2020 that Ms X's landlord was unwilling to allow her to remain in the property.

The Ombudsman said this meant it was "likely, on balance, the landlord would seek a possession order once available".

It criticised the council's "blanket position" that a person is only homeless when a bailiff's warrant is obtained, and said this was a fault.

It concluded that if the council had properly applied the code, it would have decided it was not reasonable for Ms X to continue to occupy her property in March 2020 and would have had a duty to provide her with interim accommodation as part of its relief duty.

The Ombudsman said: "I consider the faults identified caused Ms X an injustice because she has had to remain living in accommodation that was unreasonable for her to occupy.

"This meant she accrued rent arrears as she could not afford to pay the full rent. It is unlikely she would have accrued these arrears had the council dealt with her application without fault as it should have offered her interim accommodation in March 2020."

A council spokesperson said: "The council has fulfilled the recommendations raised by the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman, including reviewing all homelessness applications in similar circumstances, which confirmed that the issues raised in the complainant's case report were not applicable in other cases."