A south London mum with her two sons were left “heartbroken” after a council told her she couldn’t move into a new house because of an IT error.

Tatanishia Miller, 32, had packed her bags when Southwark Council told her a home she was due to move into the same week was meant for someone else on January 31. 

Tatanishia, a mum of two, had only been promised the council property eight days earlier after successfully bidding for it online.

Officials told Tatanishia that the three-bedroom house in East Dulwich was wrongly offered to her after she was accidentally given a higher ranking on the council house bidding list than she deserved.

Tatanishia currently lives in a two-bedroom flat in Nunhead with her sons, Tiego, eight, and Lorenzo, 11, who share a bedroom. 

She says they have been left devastated by the bad news after waiting for years to get their own room. 

Tatanishia said: “I didn’t even know this was possible. They said ‘sorry we gave away the house.’ No solution. No ‘Ms Miller we have found you a like for like house.’

“My sons are really upset about it. They’ve been crying every night. This house would have changed our lives. That’s why my kids are so devastated. It has broken my heart.” 

Tatanishia says she is looking to move because the family has outgrown its small two-bedroom flat in Nunhead. Her son Tiego, who is autistic, makes noises at night which keep her older son Lorenzo awake and the brothers regularly get into fights.

Walls and ceilings in the flat are thin and Tatanishia says she struggles to sleep at night. The property she was due to move into in East Dulwich had three bedrooms so, Tiego and Lorenzo could each have their own rooms. 

Tatanishia said: “Lorenzo finds it hard to understand Tiego’s complex needs and is kept awake by him at night. It’s the size of the flat that’s a problem. The kitchen can’t fit a fridge and the door doesn’t open properly.

“You can hear the toilet flush upstairs – it’s like living in a goldfish bowl. I’ve not had a goodnight’s sleep in four years of living here.”

Tatanishia’s house offer was withdrawn after council officials realised her application had been incorrectly allocated an extra star she wasn’t entitled to. 

She now fears she has not only lost the East Dulwich property, but also had her chances of securing a new house any time soon dashed by the decision to downgrade her bid. 

Tatanishia said: “I’m going to the back of the list now. God knows how long it’s going to take me to move.

“I have worked my whole life. I have never sponged off the government but a decent home would be the biggest blessing.”

Cllr Stephanie Cryan, Southwark Council cabinet member for council homes and homelessness, told Southwark News: “We do not rely on IT alone to allocate council housing, we check and verify each successful bid before making a formal offer.

“In this case, the automated system had incorrectly granted Ms Miller an extra star she was not entitled to. Therefore when she bid for a property, she was seemingly in first position, when in fact others had been bidding for much longer.

“We wrote to her explaining this, apologised for the error but made it clear that if we were to uphold the offer, this would deprive a household in greater need who would miss out on the property.”

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