Kids ask mum ‘the place will we sleep’ as family-of-six is made homeless

A mother and her five children were abruptly evicted from their home, with only a week to gather their belongings.

Birmingham City Council allegedly ‘changed the locks’ on the property while the family was away. Kelly Rees, who claims she received no prior warning, was left ‘distraught’ as her anxious children questioned: “Where will we sleep now?”

Now without a home, the 36 year old and her children, aged 17, 16, eight, seven and two, are crammed onto air mattresses and fold-out sofas in a single room at her former mother-in-law’s house in Balsall Heath. The family were ousted in May when the council accused them of ‘abandoning’ their property in Reginald Road, Alum Rock.

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Kelly alleges issues arose when her children fell ill due to ‘mould, damp and bug-infestations’ in the house. Four of her children have asthma and the youngest developed a skin condition after crawling on the ‘bug-infested’ carpet, she claimed.

Despite being thankful for having a ‘roof over their heads’, she said they kept quiet about the problems, fearing that complaints would result in them being relocated to even worse hostels. Instead, she stated they would stay at her baby’s father’s house or ex mother-in-law’s on the ‘odd occasions’ when they became sick.

However, during a visit in September, the family were warned they needed to “look like they were staying there” – or risk losing the property. Amid fears of eviction, she claims they would then commute from Balsall Heath to sleep at the temporary property ‘every night’ until May 17 – when they were notified of the lock change, reports Birmingham Live.

Kelly said: “I was picking my kids up from school on the Friday, and I had an email off this support worker who had come around previously. She said: ‘Look we’ve been in today and changed the locks on your property, I’ve got reasons to believe you’ve abandoned the property, you’re not replying to your landlord and giving him access, you’ve got seven days to collect your belongings.”

Describing the lack of legal process, she added: “There was no section 21, no section 41, no notice, no nothing. It was just a quick thing, she’d gone in there and changed my locks. I was distraught, my kids were like: ‘What the hell? All of our stuff is in that house, where are we going to sleep now, what are we going to do?’.”

Previously, the landlord had requested access for a gas engineer, but scheduling conflicts due to her children’s school runs in Balsall Heath made it difficult to arrange a weekday visit, Kelly claimed.

She detailed the events leading to their eviction: “In the end they turned around and said ‘because you haven’t given us a day, and it’s been 21 days since we asked you, we are going to take it up with the council.’ Then a week later, we were evicted.”

After being forced out, the family went back for their possessions and have called for the council to review the eviction. “I said: ‘You’ve made a mistake and just basically put me and the kids on the street’,” Kelly said.

“I’m just stuck in a rut at the moment, my kids are now sleeping on air beds in my ex mother-in-law’s house, my baby’s grandma. We’re all living on top of each other.

“I did phone the temporary accommodation to say ‘her house is very overcrowded.’ She’s got two grandchildren come to live with her there on top of us as well; it’s a very small three-bedroom house.

“My children just deserve their own beds now. We’re all in one room, we’ve got air beds there and two sofa beds that we pull out and just make do at the minute. Our only other option would be to go into another hostel or B&B.”

The family, who ‘fled abuse’ in Wales, were initially placed in the Ladbrooke Hotel for six months before their move to the Alum Rock property in December 2021. A Birmingham City Council spokesman said in their case, processes were followed to ensure the property could be “made available for another family in need.”

Temporary housing, provided by third parties, undergo building safety compliance checks before families are moved there, with damp and mould issues “escalated immediately” if reported, the authority added.

Their statement read: “The Council has a responsibility to maintain standards across its temporary accommodation, whether it is owned or provided by a third party. It also has a responsibility to ensure that its limited stock is used for those families who are owed a duty to be housed.

“As an individual family’s needs will change over time, we will regularly review whether there is still a housing need. If the circumstances of the family have changed, or the property is no longer being used as their primary home, we will follow processes which will ensure that the property can be made available for another family in need.

“In the case of this family, we can confirm that due process was followed.”

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