Reading Councillor Raj Singh has discussed on national news a migrant family of four who are claiming that evicting them from a retirement home would be a breach of the ECHR.
The “rambunctious behaviour” of twin three-year-old girls who are living in the Reading retirement home and pulling the emergency pullcord has seen their father in court facing eviction.
Shahidul Haque, 59, said he did not realise he was not allowed to move his daughters and 28-year-old wife in with him to the 55+ accommodation because he could not read the tenancy agreement, as he cannot speak English and argued it would be a breach of his human rights if he were evicted.
Haque, who is on benefits and disabled, had been moved into David Smith Court, on Bayford Drive, following a homelessness application he made to West Berkshire Council in July last year.
Reading Councillor Raj Singh spoke to GB News and said, “I have no sympathy for what I have read on the interviews.
“If he was able to fill out forms for housing and asylum seekers, then how can he claim he did not understand the contract details.
“It’s for me bonkers.”
Mr Haque’s one-bedroom self-contained flat, for which he pays £110.70 per week, is in a specially adapted independent living accommodation which is only available for people aged over 55.
But in October, Haque decided to make an application for his family – his wife, 28-year-old Jakia Sultana Monni and their twin daughters – to join him in the UK.
Court documents state his children, who are British citizens, and his wife, who is in the UK on a spousal visa, moved into the property on December 20 and have been there ever since.
Taiwo Temilade, a solicitor with Southern Housing, which owns David Smith Court, wrote in a claim form: “The Defendant’s two young children who reside with him have become a source of excess noise levels and anti-social behaviour, negatively affecting other residents within the estate through misuse of safety features (emergency pullcord) and generally rambunctious behaviour.”
After Southern Housing received complaints, its officers held a meeting with Haque and told him that his family living there was a breach of his tenancy agreement. It took him to Reading County Court to seek possession of the property.
In a written defence, barrister Isabel Bertschinger argued: “It is averred that the Terms and Conditions of the tenancy agreement were never explained to the Defendant via a Sylheti interpreter or translated into Sylheti in a written document such that the Defendant could understand them.”
Bertschinger said Haque was in receipt of benefits and was considered disabled – having been diagnosed with diabetes, obstructive sleep apnoea, hypertension and depression, adding: “Disabled tenants are more likely to struggle to manage anti-social behaviour by others who live or visit their home.
Haque claimed that he had informed Southern Housing on January 2 that his wife and children had very recently arrived in the UK and had nowhere else to live, other than the property, adding the local council had not offered them alternative accommodation.