Town hall ordered to pay £2.3K for leaving family in slug-infested home

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

A council has been ordered to pay a father £2,300 after leaving him, his wife and two children in a slug-infested flat for 10 months.

Lambeth council failed to quickly rehouse the unnamed man and his children, despite an employee acknowledging the situation was “intolerable” in an email.

The Local Government Ombudsman – which regulates councils – said Lambeth “deprived” the family of suitable accommodation.

It ordered the local authority to pay the dad, known as Mr X, compensation and apologise to him in writing for its failings.

An ombudsman ruling from September 27 said: “It appears, from internal council emails in September, that the council accepted the situation was ‘intolerable’ and was unsafe for Mr X’s children.

“From this, it is reasonable to conclude that the council did not consider Mr X’s temporary accommodation to be suitable. Therefore, the council is at fault for breaching its duty to provide suitable accommodation.”

It continued: “The council said it did not rehouse Mr X earlier because pest control management was in place.

“The council said it felt the problem was being managed and could be resolved. There is no written record of these decisions or how these decisions were reached.

“I find these faults caused Mr X and his family injustice because they were deprived of suitable accommodation, which the council had a duty to provide.

“I also find the faults caused Mr X injustice in that he took considerable time and trouble keeping the council (and its contractor) informed of the ongoing problems and seeking a resolution.”

The family were placed in temporary accommodation by Lambeth council in April 2021 after becoming homeless. Mr X told the council about the slug infestation three months later in July 2021.

An internal email showed Lambeth council staff discussed the possibility of rehousing him and his family as early as August 2021.

But Mr X, his wife and two children were still living in the same property in February 2022, when a contractor told Lambeth council it couldn’t get rid of the slugs.

It took another three months until the family were finally rehoused in May 2022.

Lambeth council has been contacted for comment.

Pictured top: Lambeth town hall (Picture: Grainne Cuffe)