Barnet London Borough Planning General Enquiries

We were shocked at the wholly negative and bitter treatment by the housing staff towards both myself and my daughter all in the span of a year. For nearly three years my daughter and I lived in a studio flat due to the small space and insect/ worm infestation we could no longer cope with living in that situation. On 3rd September 2018 my daughter and I went to Barnet homes (Barnet House in Whetstone) together with our belongings in a van because despite previously having been liaising with a housing officer regarding our situation for 2 years we felt as though we were being ignored. They kept us sitting in Barnet homes from around 9am until 6/7pm . When attempting to explain our situation to a housing officer we were callously told that it was up to us to decide whether the room was suitable or not. We feel that the way in which we were treated was unnecessarily punishing and bitter considering the fact that we were the ones suffering. At around 5pm when practically everyone had left on the day we were offered two properties: a 1 bedroom flat in Enfield, private properties such as this I had been sent to view by the council, in Enfield, and was aware that they were in incredibly dirty conditions; we were also offered a 2 bedroom temporary flat in Essex - at that time we were unaware how far Essex would have been from my daughters school in Barnet and opted for that property as we were exhausted by that point in the evening, especially as I use strong medication for health issues. The housing officer, Mr Jordan Sailsman, and his manager said that the move would not work out in our favour and will be against us. We were led to the ground floor level of Barnet House where I was given several documents to sign without being given a chance for my daughter to read them and translate for me what it was that I was signing, due to my limited English. The manager on the day also told me that she would never let us be rehoused by the council. Then at around 6.30pm we were told to make our own way to the estate agency, collect the keys to the property and go to the temporary accommodation in Essex. When we arrived at the accommodation we had not been given an entrance key to the building, we just had a key to the flat - we had to wait for about an hour outside for a neighbour to open the door for us. The property also had no electricity when we entered. Both my daughter and I emailed the housing officer, Mr Jordan Sailsman, several times throughout the 1 month that we lived in the property asking whether we could be rehoused somewhere closer to my daughters school as it took her 2 hours to get to school in the morning and even longer to get home in the evening which was increasingly stressful for her during her A Levels, especially as her school were also very concerned about the journey negatively affecting her grades. In the temporary accommodation we were constantly anxious and afraid after we were told in the council that we could unexpectedly be told to empty and leave the accommodation with a one-day notice. We were forced to find a private property online at a high cost that we could not afford because of the long journey from Essex to London everyday as I also found the extensive travelling to and from hospital appointments extremely difficult. The only property that we found was in Brent but unfortunately after moving in we discovered that this property also had problems of damp and mould due to which we only lived there for 6 months. Before the beginning of my daughters exams we found a property in Barnet although this too is a 1 bedroom flat and is too small for 2 people. The way that we treated and spoken to throughout the day was absolutely belittling and mocking. I would like to ask the council whether it is acceptable for members of staff to mock customers that are seeking help and support in a difficult situation. Throughout all of this I was put under a lot of stress and anxiety and have been receiving psychological support following these experiences.
Jul 9th, 2019

Nov 20th, 2017