Wandsworth Council ordered to pay family £900 over unsuitable home offers

Wandsworth Council was ordered to compensate the family after a watchdog investigation

A south London council has been told to pay a homeless family of three £900 after offering them four unsuitable properties in just over three weeks, including a home with only one bedroom.

Wandsworth Council was ordered to pay the family after a probe by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

The family were placed in a hotel with no cooking facilities when they became homeless in August 2022.

The council said it accepted the ombudsman's recommendations.

The mother, named Miss X in the watchdog's report, said sharing a room for five weeks was "very difficult" and particularly affected her eldest son, who has autism.

Miss X has severe anxiety and depression and said the unsuitable offers of accommodation and time spent in the hotel caused her mental health to deteriorate, the report said.

Miss X and her two teenage sons previously lived in a two-bed privately rented flat in Wandsworth.

The report said that by the end of June 2022 the council knew Miss X had received a Section 21 eviction notice from her landlord requiring her to leave the property by 22 July. 

By mid-July, the council's medical adviser recommended Miss X needed a three-bed property as her sons could not share a bedroom due to behavioural issues resulting from her eldest son's autism. 

Miss X stayed at the flat until 19 August and the family went on holiday afterwards. By late August they were placed in the hotel where they stayed for five weeks.

The report said the council properly considered the hotel's location when it placed Miss X and her sons there.

But the ombudsman did not see any evidence the authority had considered whether "sharing a family room in a B&B hotel was a suitable arrangement when Miss X's eldest son has challenging behaviour and sleep difficulties because of his autism".

The council also made five offers of accommodation to Miss X between 25 August and 13 September, according to the report, but only the final offer met her needs.

The family moved into the property on 3 October.

'Clearly unsuitable'

Among the properties offered were two that were too small and one with one bedroom, the report said.

The report said the council did not knowingly make unsuitable offers to Miss X, but ruled: "This caused inconvenience and wasted her time viewing properties which were clearly unsuitable for her needs. It also raised her hopes and caused disappointment.

"She had to explain to her sons each time a property proved to be unsuitable that they would have to remain in the hotel and this upset them."

A spokesperson for the council said: "We accept that the housing offers made to this family did not fully meet their needs and have accepted the ombudsman's recommendations."

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