Mum facing homelessness after challenging Bexley’s short-notice relocation offer

By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter

A Bexley mum says she ‘can’t sleep’ after being given a month by the council to leave her property.

Dare Olaifa-Oyeniyi, 43, has lived in her Erith home with her husband and three children since 2021, after being placed there under emergency accommodation protocols by Bexley council .

The mother says that since moving in, she has frequently raised concerns with the authority on issues relating to leaks and mould – and risks to family health – and an uneven paving in the back garden that was proving a hazard for her autistic seven-year-old son, Abdul-Quddus.

Works to level the back garden at the mum’s property began in July this year. However, an email received by Ms Olaifa-Oyeniyi from a Bexley council officer on August 14 included an offer for a 12-month tenancy at a three-bedroom property based in Sittingbourne, Kent.

The offer stated that whether Ms Olaifa-Oyeniyi accepted the offer or not, the council had met its requirements to secure accommodation for her and would end its housing duty to her. This required the mum to vacate the temporary accommodation property she was currently living in.

She said: “They didn’t even give me a choice. They said there was this property in this area, Sittingbourne, and whether I accept or don’t accept they were going to end their duty.”

She added: “I can’t even think about it because we haven’t ever been there before. We don’t know anybody there. We don’t have any family, friends or connection to that area. When I was looking at the distance, my oldest kid, if she has to go to school, she would have to be getting up at maybe 6am to get to school for 8.30am.”

The email stated Ms Olaifa-Oyeniyi was required to give a response to the offer by 3pm the next day, when the initial email was sent at 4pm. The mum responded the next morning shortly before 10am to say that she would accept the property but was challenging the suitability of the offer given its location.

Ms Olaifa-Oyeniyi also asked to be able to remain in either her current temporary accommodation or a new property while the review was underway. However, the council officer responded that same morning at 10.30am to inform her the Sittingbourne property’s agent would meet her at the new address at 12.30pm that day to sign the tenancy agreement.

She said: “It was 10.30am and they are expecting me to be somewhere that is two and a half hours away. They gave me a time to collect the key. The guy kept calling me and I said my son was having tuition and I didn’t know when I could leave.”

She added: “I told them that I needed a review of the decision so I was just thinking in my head that obviously when someone asks for a review they would give time. But they just wanted me to go there and get started moving.

After Ms Olaifa-Oyeniyi did not meet the agent, the council officer recalled the tenancy offer and sent a letter informing the resident that the authority had ended its duty to house her.

The letter claimed the mum had refused to meet the managing estate agent and failed to make a clear formal decision on the offer. It said Ms Olaifa-Oyeniyi must now vacate her emergency accommodation and the authority had made a referral to social services given she has children under 18 years old.

She said: “It happened on August 15, I haven’t been able to sleep [since then] because I’m not sure what to do.”

The mum then received a letter on August 21 from the council asking her to vacate her current home by September 29 or the authority would seek possession of the property.

She said: “I don’t even know what I’m going to do. Where do they expect me to go with the kids? Are they going to put us on the streets? Because I’m not sure.”

Bexley Council was approached for comment, but said it was not able to comment on individual cases.

Pictured top: Dare Olaifa-Oyeniyi (Picture: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon)