Council fined after dumping tenant’s family heirloom

By Adrian Zorzut, Local Democracy Reporter

A council has been fined £1,860 after dumping a tenant’s heirloom while she moved homes.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman said Hammersmith and Fulham council caused “avoidable distress” when they threw away the disabled woman’s antique bed frame, handed down by her father, and her children’s belongings, a report by the watchdog revealed.

The local authority has since apologised and promised to inform staff of their legal duties to tenants.

The tenant, who is only known as Miss X, asked Hammersmith and Fulham council to help move her belongings from temporary accommodation into her new home.

She repeatedly told council officers she could not afford to pay for a removal firm and pleaded with them to help.

The council said “financial constraints” and her move to a permanent tenancy meant they could not help.

Instead, they urged the woman to apply for a Local Support Payment from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which she already had and only covered the cost of a fridge-freezer and cooker.

When she saw asked a few days later to drop off the keys to her temporary flat, she again begged the council for help and warned them she could not afford to lose her furniture.

Days later, all her belongings in the flat were gone, including her dad’s bed, which she had managed to hold on to while she was homeless.

The local authority said Miss X signed a vacation form which it claims meant it no longer had any duty to protect her belongings.

It also said it stored her items in vacant temporary accommodation for two weeks after her new tenancy started and took “reasonable steps” to give her advice and assistance.

They also said the council does not offer a removal service for residents moving out of temporary accommodation into permanent tenancies due to budget constraints.

But the ombudsman strongly disagreed, telling the council this was not a reason to neglect its legal duties to protect Miss X’s things.

They wrote: “The council could have considered making a reasonable charge for this, as set out in the law. There is no evidence the council considered this.”

A Hammersmith and Fulham council spokesman said: “We are truly sorry for failing to protect the belongings of Miss X between moves.”

Pictured top: Hammersmith town hall (Picture Phillip Perry, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13480981)