Council criticised over vulnerable woman's eviction

Archived press release

Date Published: 07/09/09

Luton Borough Council wrongly evicted a vulnerable tenant for rent arrears while a housing benefit appeal was pending.

Luton Borough Council wrongly evicted a vulnerable tenant for rent arrears while a housing benefit appeal was pending, finds Local Government Ombudsman, Jerry White. In his report, issued today (7 September 2009) he says: “I have seen no evidence that the Council weighed in the balance [the complainant]’s vulnerability, its statutory duty towards children and families, or the concerns of its own social services staff and medical professionals about her housing situation, when taking its decision to evict her for rent arrears.”

‘Ms Salt’ (not her real name for legal reasons) complained that the Council unfairly evicted her for rent arrears created by the incorrect calculation of benefit entitlement, and did not delay the eviction until after the outcome of her appeal against this was known. As a result, she and her daughter were made homeless, and she says they had to stay with friends, sleep in the car, and return briefly to Ms Salt’s violent ex-partner until she was offered accommodation again.

The Ombudsman found that the Council had incorrectly filed on its computer system Ms Salt’s application to review its decision about her housing benefit. Had the Council properly recorded this information, the Housing team would have discovered that a benefit review decision was pending when it did its final cross-check prior to eviction. And this should have prevented the eviction from taking place on grounds of rent arrears

Ms Salt was making repayments of a disputed overpayment of housing benefit, and the Council delayed reviewing its decision about this. So Ms Salt continued to repay overpaid benefit and this caused her rent arrears to increase further, to a level where Housing decided that enough was enough and she should be evicted. The Ombudsman accepted that Ms Salt would probably still have had some arrears if the Council had reviewed its decision earlier. But on balance he believed that she would not have been evicted simply for arrears at this level.

The Ombudsman said: “Ms Salt’s depression, and her experiences as a victim of domestic violence, mean that she is a vulnerable woman whose housing circumstances are vitally important to her own welfare and that of her young child. In these circumstances the Council should have considered whether it could reasonably take steps to assist Ms Salt to overcome her debt problems; had it done so it would have uncovered her underlying entitlement to housing benefit. I do not consider that the Council did enough here and in the particular circumstances of Ms Salt’s vulnerability that was service failure by the Council.”

The Ombudsman finds maladministration causing injustice and recommends the Council to apologise to Ms Salt and pay her compensation of £5,000, to be offset against any outstanding rent arrears or other debts to the Council if necessary.

Report ref 07B10865