Can I claim compensation from the council

[DigiDragon]

Firstly let me apologise for the length this might reach, but will keep it brief -
In december 2010 I was forced out of my property by violence - the peole were arrested and it is still going through court. I made a homeless application to the council which was accepted, and they were notified at the time I had moved twice previously due to violence and requested to be moved into another part of the borough (I have this in writing)I was moved into temporary accomodation after several calls and letters, I was notified I was to pay 2 lots of rent, one on each. I was then offered a property within a 2 mile radius of the several offenders and refused it on fear of violence, and the disrepair to the property could cause potential health problems to my children. The council then removed me from the homelessness register. Due to this Social Services became involved with my children (and have now been put under a care protection plan due to housing issues) I appealed against the decision to remove me, and entered a complaint, as well as making a request under the FOI... Not all the information was sent so sent a second and third request, eventually involving the ICO. During thistime I recieved the appeal decision from an indepedant contractor agreeing with the council decision - despite them ignoring my letters and calls in order to make representations during the alloted time. I applied to the court to appeal in 28 days, and because my funding was refused I was unable to follow this track any longer. They have now taken possession of my previous property, and dumped my belongings and those of my children, along with furniture etc, and also cleared my shed BEFORE the order had been granted and dumped a new motorbike valued at £800...I carried on via the complaints procedure but feel that now enough is enough. My childrens and my health is suffering due to stress and the present accomodation, I have attempted to take out loans to go private, my work is now suffering and I am looking at losing my job. I now have to travel for over 2 hours every morning and evening to get my choldren to school and then to work, which has resulted in me not being able to afford full rent (and they have screwed up my housing beneft claim 4 times now) they have lost forms, not carried out repairs, commited breaches of the human rights act and conventions of the right of the child amongst other things, and now want to sue them for negliegence and breach of duty of care... however I know how hard this can be - I do have several forms of evidence from different experts, the council, correspondance between the 2 - even shelter is at a loss as to what to advise me to do. I know the longer I stay here the more unsafe me and my children become as people who caused problems that caused me to move previously are now closer due to where the accomodation is, and there is a real risk that myself or my children could be harmed or snatched. Any advice on this would be great as I have a meeting this friday with the directors and wish to give them my next step in advance. To be honest I dont even want money - they have admitted in several letters they have cocked up with nothing more than a sorry - now I just want them to let me chose somewhere safe for me and my children, as I originally requested in the application 6 months ago, as they are now trying to evict me from the temporary accomodation also...

[pink-kittens]

wow, that's some story
You'll get asked lots of questions in order to be able to help you further

What I can tell you is that you cannot choose your property where council housing is concerned. They will offer you (I think) 2 properties and then you will find your application blocked for 3 months. Unless you are on the transfer list, this is the way it works

What is the police involvement in all of this?

[DigiDragon]

As far as property type is concerned, I'm not too bothered WHAT it is, rather WHERE it is, I was only ever offered one property in an area I had already told them to be unsafe for my children and me.
The police were involved at the initial assault, and also when the council took it upon themselves to remove my property BEFORE they had a warrant for possession, effectively rendering me homeless yet again, they were also involved in all the previous assaults in the area, and I have the full police record for these (I made several requests to different organisations under the Data Protection Act) My local council is run by an ALMO (which is a private company) I know I'm still on the transfer list, but my banding has been moved so low I stand no chance of getting a new property any time soon :(

[DigiDragon]

The police also notified the local authority that it was unsafe for me to return to my previous property or to stay in the area.

[venator]

I should imagine you've been on to your MP, as you seem pretty clued up.

This is the sort of thing for which an MP should be useful - writing to the council, police etc to shake them up...

[DigiDragon]

Yep I'm good friends with the local MP as I've recently done some work with them via my business, and I've contacted the housing ombudsman - I'm literally trying every route I can as I want court action to be a seriously final step. Trouble is the more I'm doing the less option I seem to have, but I don't want to go in fighting a battle I wont win.