A FATHER who abandoned his life abroad at short notice to look after his children was denied his housing rights, an investigation has found.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has been recommended to apologise to the father, pay him £4,500 for its failures and stresses caused to the individual, and put the man at the top of the list for each eligible property he bids for until he makes a successful bid.

This has come about after a report by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found the authority had denied the father his rights as a homeless person whom the authority had a legal duty to help, upholding the man's complaint.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s executive director of borough services Rebecca Emmett said: “The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has issued a report following its investigation of a complaint against the borough council.

"The council must now consider the report and tell the ombudsman what it proposes to do.

"We cannot comment on individual cases."

The father had been living and working abroad when the courts removed his two daughters from the care of his ex-partner in December 2012.

He returned to the UK, giving up his work, to look after the children and was placed in an unaffordable flat by the borough council - where the family still remain - and had been given no opportunity to appeal, the ombudsman found.

The ombudsman report added the council knew in December 2012 it owed the father full homelessness duty and instead of issuing a notice telling him as such, the authority offered him a six-month private let without explaining the consequences if he signed for the property. The father also told the authority's staff he could not afford the £850 per month rent.

Over the following years, the rent raised incrementally to £1,025 a month, and because of the benefits cap, the family’s housing benefit was reduced in the same period. In 2017 and 2018, the family received notices seeking possession because of rent arrears.

The council offered the family one room in a hostel with shared bathroom and kitchen facilities. The father declined the offer.

The council has paid more than £10,000 to the landlord to cover the family’s housing benefit shortfall, but the family still lives in the unaffordable flat.

Michael King, local government and social care ombudsman, said: “The council failed to discuss the ramifications of accepting the property to the family when it arranged the private let. The council should have either explained that by accepting the flat the council would no longer have a duty towards them, or it should have offered the flat as temporary accommodation, with all the review rights that entails.

“Instead, the council effectively acted as a gatekeeper, did not give the family a homelessness decision and denied them their review rights.

“Had the council acted properly in this case, it would not have had to pay a significant sum to the private landlord to make up the difference in the rent.

“I would now urge the council to consider my report and accept its findings.”