London council told to rehouse family with disabled daughter

A London council has been told to rehouse a family with a disabled daughter without delay after it failed to apply its "ambiguous" lettings policy "fairly", according to a report by the Local Government Ombudsman.

The family was given top priority on the London Borough of Havering's waiting list for a home with a ground floor bedroom for the eldest of the three daughters - who suffers from multiple sclerosis.

However, when a three-bed property with two ground floor reception rooms became available - with the family wanting to use one of the ground-floor rooms as her bedroom - the council deemed it "unsuitable".

The report said the council said it was "unsuitable", saying that the daughter required a ground-floor bedroom and - if she used a ground floor reception room as a bedroom - there would be four bedrooms and the family was only assessed to need three.

It's been recommended to pay £4,000 in compensation to the family and told to review the wording of its lettings policy.

The ombudsman said: “I conclude that, had it not been for the daughter’s disability, the family would have been rehoused.

"The council’s decision was unfair and illogical. It failed to give due consideration to the family’s circumstances and its obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 (now replaced by the Equality Act 2010) and failed to follow its own Equalities and Diversity Policy.”