A South London mum fears she and her daughter will end up living on the streets after the council allegedly refused to consider her need for temporary housing.

The headline has been updated to make clear it was not a council eviction.

Mariana, who did not wish to give her second name, was evicted from her home in the Greenwich borough over three weeks ago and has since been staying with someone she was put in touch with through a friend, but is wary of overstaying her welcome.

The mum said she had lived in the privately rented two-bedroom detached house with her daughter since August 2018.

The pair signed a two-year tenancy agreement with a private landlord, which they said turned into a verbal periodic agreement once it had finished.

Following this, Mariana said she and her daughter received a notice to leave the property last September but they had been able to remain there while they sought help from the council as they couldn’t afford to rent privately anymore, due to the spiralling costs of doing so in London.

This Is Local London: Marina in south LondonMarina in south London

Mariana’s daughter told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “We were encouraged by friends, acquaintances, and colleagues that the council surely will not leave two women on the street.

So the council when they came with their decision in February after the assessment said, ‘You are homeless and you are eligible for help. However, you need to go and find accommodation in the private rented sector’ – precisely what we can’t afford.”

The daughter claimed Greenwich Council wrongfully excluded Mariana from the priority needs list for housing, as it had “ignored” doctors’ notes on her health conditions such as severe depression, anxiety, diabetes, hypertension and osteoarthritis.

She said that despite employing a solicitor to appeal the decision, the authority said no help would be given as the pair had already been advised.

The mother and daughter were then evicted from their home on August 16 when bailiffs arrived at their door.

Mariana told the LDRS: “It was so terrible. My daughter and I felt like we were in a tornado.

"We were packing frantically all afternoon and all night without sleeping even a second. Without rest, without eating, without even drinking water.”

Mariana said Greenwich Council called her to conduct a housing needs assessment on the morning of August 16 while the bailiffs were in her home.

Her daughter said she talked to officers on the phone due to her mum’s panic attacks, but was told their need for housing had not changed as she was unable to send officers a copy of the council’s previous decision during the eviction.

The daughter said: “It was extremely cruel. I just couldn’t believe that she was saying that to me and she was absolutely, utterly cold-hearted.

"I’m going through a total mental breakdown and being left on the street and we are packing at the last minute. My mum is barely surviving as well and this woman is mocking me.”

Labour Councillor Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness at Greenwich Council, told the LDRS that the council was not able to comment on individual cases.

She said the council was experiencing more households approaching it as homeless after being given notice by private landlords given the limited supply of suitable and affordable housing in London.

Cllr Slattery added: “Unfortunately, due to legislation and the lack of affordable housing, we cannot offer everyone who applies to us as homeless a home.

"We have more than 27,000 households on our housing waiting list, and more than 1,800 households living in temporary accommodation.

"The demand we have for housing far outweighs the supply we have.”

Mariana said she and her daughter went to the council offices with their luggage after being evicted in the hope of being placed in temporary accommodation.

After giving details of their previous home, she said officers told them they could not be helped and they were asked to leave the building.

The daughter said: “The security guard came to us and said we must leave now. We said obviously we are not going to leave because we don’t have anywhere to go.

"The only option for us was the street and we didn’t want to go to the street. So then he removed our luggage.”

She added: “We were trying to make them understand that we were street homeless. They treated us like trash.”

Mariana said: “They were very, very heartless.

"The man who moved our luggage said, ‘I want to go home, you must leave,’ and my daughter said, ‘I want to go home too but guess what? We have no home to go to’.”

Mariana and her daughter said they left the council offices after they were threatened with arrest for trespassing.

The pair said they still received no help from the authority after coming to the offices the next day, and used their savings to stay in nearby hotels from August 16 – 18.

The daughter said: “Everything was very traumatic. When we called the out of hours phone number the day after, we were told that the homeless team had left a note on the system to not answer calls from us because no help will be given as we have already been advised.

"So the out of hours team could not help us or give us a hotel for the night…When we told friends and acquaintances, they were in disbelief. They said this has never been like this in this country. They can’t believe it.”

Mariana’s daughter said she has taken sick leave from work due to the stress caused by the situation, and fears she will be unable to complete the final exams for her master’s degree while she and her mum look for a permanent home.

She said the pair have been staying with a friend of an ex-colleague for the past two weeks.

The daughter said being offered the help was a “miracle”, but she and her mother are worried about overstaying their welcome.

She said: “We don’t want to be a burden, so we are very careful not to disturb them. But still the situation we are in is something that we cannot believe is happening to us. We can’t believe, and nobody else can believe, that the council sent two women on the street.”

Cllr Slattery said: “We understand that this is an emotive subject, especially for people who find themselves in this situation, as we are only able to rehouse those who meet the strict eligibility criteria set by our own Housing and Homelessness Strategy and government legislation.”

The cabinet member said the authority always tries and work with residents to prevent them becoming homeless in the first place.

She said the council prevented more than 1,100 households from becoming homeless last year through interventions including mediation with hosts, negotiations with landlords and provision of alternative housing before the household became homeless.

Cllr Slattery added: “Even when households are deemed to not be in priority need for a home, they will still be assisted with advice and information on how to seek alternative accommodation in the private sector.

"With homelessness at near-record levels and an estimated 166,000 Londoners currently living in temporary accommodation, it is a significant challenge for local authorities across the capital and beyond. We are working hard to do the best we possibly can for all residents in housing need.”

Mariana and her daughter said they are currently awaiting a court hearing to challenge Greenwich Council on its decision regarding her priority for housing.

They said they are hoping to be given a home soon and recover from the stress of the situation.