Statement on Haggerston eviction

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.”

As background

The home is managed by Suffolk Tenant Management Organisation (TMO)

The home that has been offered to the family is in Newham, a neighbouring borough, 6.2 miles from the previous address in Haggerston. The family were also offered a property in Walthamstow in March 2025.

In September 2021, the Council’s Fraud Investigation Team contacted Ms Antwi, the main tenant, in America who confirmed she was not returning to the UK and had been away from the home for a considerable period. She expressly stated that she wished for the Council to take back the property and that she would not contest procession proceedings in court. As a result, the home was classified as abandoned and Ms Oppong was an unauthorised occupant.

Subletting constitutes a criminal offence and the Council has a legal and fiduciary duty to ensure social housing is allocated strictly in accordance with our policies

The Council has a legal duty to ensure that any offer of a home made to a homeless family is suitable for their specific needs taking into account factors like size, affordability, health requirements and location.

Given the significant pressure on social housing in Hackney we have taken every step we can to seek to mitigate any additional impact on the family by finding a suitable home for them in a neighbouring
borough a short distance from Hackney. This will enable them to continue to be close to their support networks. If a family believes the offer fails to meet these standards they have a statutory right to request a review.

The planned eviction didn’t take place as a group of people were occupying the property and the eviction could not happen safely as a result. It will still go ahead and will be rescheduled for the near future.