North London family forced to live in Travelodge for 5 months after their ceiling collapsed

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - 2024/03/23: View of Travelodge hotel sign in London. (Photo by Steve Taylor/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
-Credit:SOPA Images/Getty Images


A North London council has paid out £3,800 in compensation to a mum after she and her family were made to live in a bed and breakfast (B&B) for three and a half months longer than legally allowed. The family were forced to move into emergency accommodation at a Travelodge after the ceiling in their council home collapsed.

An investigation by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) found the family were placed in the B&B for a total of 20 weeks - 14 weeks longer than the statutory six weeks allowed. The mum, referred to in the report as Mrs X, said it had a 'significant effect' on her family's physical and mental health.

In October 2023, Brent Council accepted responsibility for housing Mrs X and her family after they were deemed to be at threat of being homeless. However, just a month later the ceiling at her home collapsed which required the local authority to find 'emergency accommodation' for the family in the form of a B&B. When households include dependent children, B&Bs can only be used when there is no other available accommodation and even then for no more than six weeks.

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Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way
Brent Council acknowledged that the accommodation the family had to stay in was 'far from ideal' -Credit:Google Maps

The LGO criticised the council for telling Mrs X that she and her family were being placed in 'interim accommodation'. Because the local authority had accepted the main housing duty for the family, the accommodation can not be classed as 'interim' and should be classed as 'temporary', in accordance with the law. A tenant has a legal right to review the suitability of temporary accommodation, which they do not have with interim accommodation.

Mrs X had asked her housing officer to review the accommodation but was told that she 'did not have the right' as she was in interim accommodation, which was inaccurate. She subsequently complained that her family had been placed in the wrong accommodation, which the council apologised for and made a payment of £1,200, stating that the B&B they were staying in was 'far from ideal'.

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As part of this complaint response, the council offered Mrs X a further £1,200, stating that it was 'a remedy for the injustice you experienced, primarily as a result of staying longer in unsuitable interim accommodation than you otherwise would have done'.

Brent Council also paid out an additional £1,200 to Mrs X as it delayed reassessing her priority band after providing updated medical information. Additionally, it failed to update the family's housing needs assessment based on this information. The council accepted that it should have done, 'given that several [people] had written to the housing officer expressing an urgent need for the family to move to suitable accommodation', according to the LGO report.

Cabinet Member for Housing and Residents Services, Cllr Fleur Donnelly-Jackson, Brent Council
Cabinet Member for Housing and Residents Services, Cllr Fleur Donnelly-Jackson, accepted that the long stay in unsuitable accommodation caused the family 'undue hardship' -Credit:Brent Council

Mrs X said this had all had a 'significant effect on her family's physical and mental health', with one of her children being 'disproportionally affected' by it, causing 'unnecessary and avoidable distress and frustration'.

The LGO told the council to pay Mrs X a further £200 for the uncertainty caused by the events - taking the total paid out to £3,800. They also called on the council to remind relevant employees of the difference between interim and temporary accommodation, as well as informing tenants of their right to review certain decisions.

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Cabinet Member for Housing and Residents Services, Cllr Fleur Donnelly-Jackson, said: "We sincerely apologise to Mrs X and her family for the distress they endured because of failings on the part of the council; it is clear that the prolonged stay in unsuitable accommodation caused undue hardship."

She added: "We have offered financial compensation to Mrs X to acknowledge the impact, and we are undertaking a thorough review of our procedures. Our overriding intention is to ensure that all residents facing homelessness receive the timely, compassionate, and effective support they deserve."

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