Council pays out in overcrowding case
A council has been found guilty of maladministration after moving a family into a property that was too small by law and forcing them to live there for more than two years.
The Local Government Ombudsman ruled that York Council should have been aware of overcrowding legislation and carried out basic checks on its properties to ensure they were within the law.
The council was in breach of the law and could have been prosecuted for allowing the family to stay in the property for more than two years, the ombudsman found.
Dr Jane Martin wrote in her report, issued today: ‘This has caused the 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.’
She recommended the council pays the family £2,000 compensation for their distress and review its guidance to housing officers on its duties under overcrowding legislation and guidance.
The council has agreed to both the recommendations. Mr Green and his wife and two daughters – then aged 9 and 10 – became homeless and applied to the council for accommodation in March 2010.
When they were offered a two-bedroom property – with a 7.7 square metre second bedroom – they were told that would be the only offer. On that basis, Mr Green agreed to move.
The family was then burgled just before Christmas 2010 and lost a ‘significant amount of their possessions’ including all the children’s presents.
But it was not until January 2012 that Mr Green made a complaint to the council through his local MP saying the house was too small and in an ‘unsuitable area’. The council replied in January 2012 saying the family was adequately housed. The council answered an ombudsman enquiry in March this year saying the smaller bedroom was large enough to accommodation two children of the same sex.
The ombudsman decided that, according to the terms of sections 324-326 of the Housing Act 1985, the size of the second bedroom meant the property was overcrowded by 0.5 of a person from the moment the family moved in.
Steve Waddington, York Council’s assistant director of housing and community safety, said: ‘Customer satisfaction and the quality of the service we provide is very important to the council and we are sorry that in this case, in 2010, the family was offered a home that resulted in it being overcrowded.
‘We accept the ombudsman’s finding and have apologised to the tenant. The council delivers services to over 8,000 tenants and leaseholders and unfortunately, in this case, our property records were wrong which resulted in the applicant been offered a home that meant they were overcrowded. We have since put measures in place to ensure that this does not happen again.’
