Homeless?
Our duties ...
We provide advice and assistance to people with housing problems. Our aim is to prevent homelessness by giving advice and intervention. This includes advice to private sector tenants on issues such as rent arrears, disrepair and landlord/tenant disputes. We also direct owner-occupiers on issues such as mortgage arrears or service charge problems.
We work closely with private sector landlords and tenants to maintain successful tenancies by providing an early and rapid response to your housing problems. This includes liaising with the Housing Benefit department to resolve problems with claims, dealing with mortgage lenders and providing practical advice and assistance where required.
Who can apply?
- Anyone who thinks they are threatened with homelessness
- Private sector tenants
- Housing association tenants
What housing advice can I expect?
- Advice on a range of issues, including rent arrears and eviction proceedings
- Information that will help you to keep your home
- Representation of clients at formal hearings
How do I access the service?
You can access housing advice and options service by approaching h&fadvice.
If you are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless you should look at the following links
to find out what you can do to help yourself.
We will do everything we can to prevent you becoming homeless and to help you find housing which meets your needs.
Homeless? Our duties and the law
The council does not have to provide permanent housing to all homeless people. Our duties towards homeless people are set out in law. We must advise and help anyone who is homeless or in danger of becoming homeless. The help given depends on your circumstances and whether we have a duty to offer you accommodation.
The help and legal duties that councils provide homeless people is set out in the Housing Act 1996 (Part VII) as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002 (opens new window).
It states that the council must advise and help anyone who is homeless or in danger of becoming homeless.
The level of assistance we can give you depends on your personal circumstances. We will always provide information and advice to all homeless people.
The acts also set out the legal duties that all councils exercise, where they are satisfied that a household is:
- eligible
- homeless
- has a priority need
- is not intentionally homeless
- has a local connection
Remember, we cannot not accept a full housing duty to you if:
- you are not eligible (eligibility, eligibility criteria, eligible for housing assistance)
- you are not homeless
- you made yourself intentionally homeless (intentionality)
- you are not in priority need
- have a local connection elsewhere and don’t have one here
To make a homeless application you should make an appointment to visit h&fadvice. If your situation is urgent and you physically have nowhere to sleep, you may be able to get a walk in appointment on the day.
Before proceeding with the application process a housing options adviser will meet with you to discuss your eligibility, consider what might be done to prevent your becoming homeless and outline the range of alternative housing options available to you.
To address the limitations of our own stock we have developed a broad range of housing options, which provide us with an opportunity to give you a much wider choice of accommodation than you will be offered as a result of a homeless application. Among other things this will allow you to have more control over the size, quality and location of your home.
If you decide that the alternative options we offer are not for you and we find that your homelessness is not preventable, you may make a homelessness application.
Homeless assessment interview
To make a homelessness application you are interviewed by the council where a full assessment of your situation is carried out . Your application officer should be the same throughout your application and you will be given their name and contact details at your first interview.
You will be asked to bring a number of documents along with you to the interview (see 'what to bring with/documents required'). The time taken to complete your assessment can often depend on the availability of this documentation. Additional interviews may be required if you are unable to supply all the required documentation, or if we need to meet with you to obtain or verify information related to your application.
Homelessness law (opens new window) requires the council to make enquiries into your circumstances which will include your address history for the last 5 years. This enables us to assess whether you are:
- Eligible for assistance
- Homeless
- In priority need
- Not intentionally homeless (intentionality)
- Have a local connection with the Hammersmith and Fulham area
The amount of help you are entitled to will depend on the outcome of our enquiries and how many of the above criteria you meet.
The enquiries
In order to make a decision on your application, the council needs to make enquiries into the circumstances of your homelessness. With your permission, we contact doctors, social workers, landlords and other appropriate professionals in order to confirm your circumstances. The length of time it will take to make a decision will depend on how easy it is for us to verify the details of your homeless application.
If your circumstances change at any time you must inform your caseworker immediately. Failure to do so could seriously affect your application and possible future housing.
Medical assessment
If you or a member of your household has a medical condition or a disability that you feel should be taken into account you should tell the assessment officer during your interview. You will then be asked to provide certain details about the medical condition and if necessary our medical adviser may need to consider this information. This will help us to decide whether you are medically vulnerable and so have a priority need under the homelessness legislation. You may also be asked to sign a form agreeing that the medical adviser can approach your GP or specialist for more details if required.
If you are considered to be in priority need the medical adviser will also use any relevant information to make recommendations about the type of property which will be suitable for you. We will tell you about any recommendations that are made.
What if I have nowhere to sleep?
Temporary accommodation is a very limited resource and is only offered to those in extreme circumstances. Being given temporary accommodation is not a short cut to being rehoused permanently.
Many people applying as homeless live far outside of West London, because there are not enough temporary homes here.
If you make a homeless application, and you cannot make arrangements to stay somewhere, we may be able to provide you with some temporary accommodation while we carry out enquiries into your homelessness. The officer interviewing you may consider this.
Please see our Temporary accommodation web pages for more detailed information.
Once the council’s assessment of your application has been completed you will be sent a letter telling you what we have decided, the reasons for our decision, and what kind of help you may be entitled to. This letter is known as a Section 184 notification.
How long will a decision take?
We aim to:
- make a decision on your case within 33 working days wherever possible.
and for more complicated cases that may take longer to assess;
- give written notice of our decision within three working days of completing the enquiries;
- complete appointments within 15 minutes of the original time;
- interview you within 30 minutes of you being seen at our reception if you have an emergency need;
- provide private interview rooms and keep all your details confidential.
Negative decisions
If you do not meet any of the first four criteria described above (homelessness, eligibility, intentionality, and priority need) the amount of help we are able to give you will be limited and may only be the provision of advice or assistance with finding yourself somewhere to live.
If you are in temporary accommodation you will be told to leave and make your own alternative arrangements.
Your right to request a review
If you disagree with the council’s decision then you have a right to ask for a review of that decision. Our decision letter will have explained how to request a review and what is involved.
If you ask us to review our decision, we will reconsider your case and give you our final decision in writing. We will try to do this within 4 weeks of your request.
You must make this request in writing within 21 days of receiving the decision letter. The council will also be able to provide more advice about exercising this right.
Your right to appeal to the County Court
If the court agrees with you, it has the power to change our decision.
If you are dissatisfied with the review decision you have the right to appeal to the County Court on a point of law. If the court agrees with you, it has the power to change our decision. This appeal must be made within 21 days from the date on which you were notified of the review decision.
We recommend that you seek independent legal advice when dealing with these matters.
Positive decisions
If the council accepts that it has a duty to you under the 1996 Housing Act (as amended by the 2002 Homelessness Act) and you can’t make your own alternative arrangements we may be able to provide you with temporary accommodation.
You may stay in temporary accommodation until such time as suitable permanent accommodation can be secured. At this time we will also ensure that your details are entered on our housing register for a permanent council or housing association home.
Receiving an offer of permanent accommodation
For detailed information view our Applying for housing web page and Choice based lettings web page.
If you are entitled to a permanent offer of housing and are unsuccessful in bidding for a property, you will only be entitled to one offer of 'suitable' permanent accommodation. We will try to make this offer before the end of two years and within six months of you bidding. This may not always be possible, for example, in the case of large families or those with special requirements.
The suitability of the offer is based upon your housing needs as defined by our proposed Housing Allocations policy, taking into account any specific medical recommendation regarding the type of housing that might be appropriate for you.
Our policy is that if you are homeless you must be prepared to accept housing in any part of the borough (there are only a few exceptions to this policy).
- If you refuse a suitable offer, our homeless duty to you will end and you will have to find your own accommodation.
- If you fail to come to an appointment to view a property, we may consider that you have refused a suitable offer.
- If you believe a property is not suitable, you can appeal (ask for a review) against the offer. You must appeal in writing within 21 days of receiving the offer.
- If you lose your appeal, our duty will already have ended and we will not make you another offer.
You may accept an offer and then appeal. If you lose this appeal, you can keep the property you have accepted.
Page last updated: 08/07/2009
