Council ‘breached law’ by cramming family into two-bed home

Published by 24publishing for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Central Government, Communities, Local Government

A council has been recommended to pay £2,000 in compensation to a family of four after it crammed them into a two-bedroom home illegally for two years, the Local Government Ombudsman has found.

Mr Green, his wife and two daughters – aged 9 and 10 at the time – were accepted by the City of York Council as homeless back in 2010.

The council offered the family a property with two bedrooms – one of which measured only 7.7m². The living room contained a gas fire and back boiler.

However, by law the family – who were forced to accept the property as the council said it would make only one suitable offer of accommodation – were overcrowded when they moved in, the ombudsman found.

The ombudsman said the situation was made even worse by the fact that, even when the matter was brought to the attention of the council by the complainant, his MP and the ombudsman’s office, the council still insisted it had acted within the law. This, said the ombudsman, prolonging the family’s unsuitable housing conditions.

The ombudsman concluded that when the family moved into their property two years ago their household was 3.5 people in terms of sections 324 -326 of the Housing Act 1985 – this is because children under 10 count as half a person. But, given the size of the second bedroom, the house was overcrowded by .5 of a person from the moment they moved in.

The council used section 326 of the Housing Act in a bid to show it was not in breach of the law as the number of available rooms included the living room.

However, as this contained a gas fire, this was in breach of Health and Safety Guidance which states that “living rooms with a gas fire or boiler could not be counted as sleeping accommodation”.

The report said: “This maladministration has caused Mr Green and his family a serious injustice. They have been forced to live in overcrowded conditions for over two years and the two daughters, now aged 11 and 12, have had to share a bedroom barely big enough for two single beds.”

It also told the council to review its guidance and arrange refresher training for all housing officers.

Mr Green and his family have since successfully bid on a three-bedroom property of his choice, after the council was told by the ombudsman to elevate his priority to the highest category.