Council bailiffs arrive to evict family from home – they couldn’t get close | UK | News
Activists from London Renters Union waited for hours outside the property for bailiffs to arrive (Image: London Renters Union)
Council bailiffs were blocked from evicting a family in London after dozens of activists protested at the flat’s entrance. On Tuesday (February 10), Hackney Council sent bailiffs to remove a family of five from the council house they had lived in for almost 20 years.
The family are facing a move into temporary accommodation because they are not the property’s legal occupants, but mum Charity Oppong says this will be harmful for her disabled seven-year-old son, Kayden. The activists waited for over three hours before the bailiffs arrived, only to turn back around after “about five minutes”, granting the household a stay of execution. “It’s really cruel,” said LRU member Hannah Caller. “This is a quibble over a tenancy. It doesn’t make any sense, and it will absolutely destroy the family.” Ms Oppong moved into the flat nearly 20 years ago, when her sister-in-law, Janet Antwi, was on the tenancy agreement. Janet later moved to America but was unable to return, Charity said, but she stayed and continued paying the rent. However, the tenancy was never formally transferred.
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Charity Oppong (L) with her 18-year-old daughter, Nana (Image: Nana Boateng)
The council discovered in 2021 that Ms Antwi was no longer an occupant when they asked Ms Oppong for her sister-in-law’s contact details.
She told the LDRS that Ms Antwi later phoned her to say she had spoken with the council. “She told me not to worry and that I would be able to stay,” Ms Oppong said.
After this, the council issued Charity a rental card in her name and also commenced legal proceedings to evict the tenants on the basis of tenancy fraud. However, the council twice failed to appear at the hearings.
According to the Town Hall, this was because, unlike the defendant, it was not given notice by the court. On January 22, 2025, the court ordered the family to leave the property.
The LDRS understands that during the legal fight, the council has been “flooded” with letters of support, including from Kayden’s school and doctors, urging it to let the family stay in the property to protect his wellbeing.
The council told the family they can move into temporary accommodation in Waltham Forest or Newham. Ms Oppong said this would be unsuitable for Kayden, who is non-verbal and autistic.
It would mean he’d be “over an hour” away from the school where he is already settled. If he moves, “he will not sleep, he will start screaming and banging on the door,” she said. “It’s not easy.”
Police arrived at the protest on Tuesday after receiving a noise complaint from a member of the estate’s Tenant Management Organisation (TMO), who later said they had spoken to the council and confirmed the bailiffs would not be returning that day.
During a back-and-forth, Met officers told the protestors they had “safeguarding concerns” about a seven-year-old boy “coming home to see this [protest]”.
LRU member Keem Costa said: “We alerted the estate beforehand. There was a lot of support from neighbours. Everyone was being really empathetic.” The protestors left around midday.
A Hackney Council spokesperson said: “While we fully understand this is a distressing situation for the family, they have been illegally subletting a home from the tenant who moved abroad several years ago and who did not legally transfer the tenancy to the family before they left the country.
“As the home was not legally transferred, unfortunately, the family has no legal rights to the home. The court has supported our case to evict them on the basis of tenancy fraud.
“We fully recognise how sensitive this situation is, with the family’s circumstances of living in the home for a lengthy period and looking after a child with additional needs.
“Like the rest of London, the demand for social rented housing in Hackney far outstrips what is available in the borough. Notwithstanding this challenging environment, we have offered the family a four-bed home close to Hackney, with good transport links to enable them to continue to access their support network.”
The council informed the LDRS that it plans to evict the family at a later date.
