Southwark council spent £14k on failed battle to stop family living in studio flat getting a bigger home

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

A South London council spent £14,000 on a failed high court battle to stop a family-of-four living in a studio flat from getting a bigger house.

A judge overturned Southwark council’s decision to refuse to give the family a higher priority for rehousing in May.

The local authority revealed it squandered £14,124 in legal fees unsuccessfully trying to claim the family’s overcrowded housing situation was a deliberate act.

The figure came to light following a question by Southwark’s Lib Dem group to the Labour-run council.

Milton Laines Roman, his wife Celia and two teenage children had been living in a cramped studio flat for five years.

Mr Roman asked the council to place the family in a higher band for council housing because of the size of their flat, but Southwark refused and tried to claim their overcrowding was deliberate.

A high court judge dismissed the council’s decision in May, ruling that the family were unlawfully excluded by Southwark after it refused to place them on the priority housing list.

The council’s final legal bill could end up even bigger than £14,000 as they are responsible for paying 90 per cent of Mr Roman’s legal bills.

In May, Southwark council apologised to the family.

Councillor Darren Merrill, cabinet member for council homes and homelessness, said: “The judge ruled that the council was wrong to assess the family as deliberately overcrowding themselves.

“We respect the decision of the court and we are carefully reviewing the judgement. We should not have described them as deliberately overcrowded, and we are sorry we got this wrong.”

Pictured top: Southwark council’s offices in Tooley Street (Picture: Southwark Council Offices
cc-by-sa/2.0 – © Stephen Craven – geograph.org.uk/p/2727779)