Story By Deanna Levine- of Barnett Alexander Conway Ingram Solicitors

Clients of ours had let a house to a family of asylum seekers. Despite what one hears in the lurid press, all went perfectly smoothly for the couple of years that they lived there. When our clients heard that the family had moved out of the property because the Home Office had sent them back to Romania following their unsuccessful asylum appeal, our clients decided to sell with vacant possession. So they arranged for the keys to be given to a local estate agent to go into the property and report back to them with details of condition and suggested sale price.

Upon arrival at the front door, our friendly local estate agent turned the key in the lock, and in he went - only to be met by a family of asylum seekers who were clearly living there. Having his wits about him (strange, wasn't it?), he began asking one or two questions, only to discover that a little boy of about 7 was the only one who could understand English. He was able to find out that the family had been there for about a week, made a hasty exit and reported back to our clients.

When our clients heard what had happened, they decided to consult us, as they were worried about having a harassment claim made against them for arranging for the estate agent to enter the property without the agreement of the tenants. We reassured them on this point and proceeded to make extensive enquiries on their behalf as to who on earth could be living in the property.

We eventually discovered what had happened. It turned out that the Housing Officer at the Asylum Team from Social Services (who pay the rent in such cases) had taken it upon himself to put another family of asylum seekers into the property when the first family moved out - without so much as finding out whether or not this was what the landlords wanted. We felt that this was rather more than what one might expect of someone who took a pro-active stance, wouldn't you?

Anyway, on making yet further enquiries, we discovered that this had been done in breach of the very Guidelines that Social Services had themselves drawn up - with the assistance of no less a person than the Housing Officer himself!

Our clients have asked us to lodge a formal complaint to Social Services and it may be that, at the end of the day, this particular local authority may yet have one less Housing Officer in its number.


Deanna Levine - Consultant Solicitor at Barnett Alexander Conway Ingram Solicitors, Hammersmith, London, W6.

Free Email:

Not a member?