A South London woman whose mum has recently died is in a stand off with the local council and a housing association over her being allowed to stay in her property.

Dorothy Bowater was placed in the two-bedroom bungalow in Erith by Bexley Council in May 2018, but her health had been declining over the past few months, leading to her daughter Julia Andrews, 64, moving into the property in July 2024 to help look after her.

Dorothy then sadly passed away on August 5.

Her death has sparked a dispute with the council and housing association over Julia and her son, who had been living there since 2018 to care for Dorothy, being allowed to remain in the home.

The housing association, Orbit, says the property, which has recently had £68,000 spent on it by Bexley Council to adapt it for Dorothy’s needs and add a third bedroom before she died, will have more rooms than Julia’s son needs when the work is complete, though he does have a right to be housed by them as he had lived there for long enough.

Bexley Council is understood to want to ensure the home is used by someone who needs three bedrooms and the adaptations originally intended for Dorothy.

Julia was also warned not to move out of her existing rented home and into the bungalow before those adaptations were complete, so it’s understood she is deemed as having no right to live there now.

But Julia feels the case is being looked at in a cold, hard way without considering their grief, and she feels stuck in limbo as she fights to be able to stay while her son is found alternative accommodation by Orbit.

She is also awaiting an occupational therapy (OT) assessment that she hopes will show she has a need to live in the property.

Meanwhile, the building work for the third bedroom is ongoing, as well as a kitchen refit by Orbit, so the property isn’t in a fully usable state. And due to the ongoing work, their possessions are piled up in the living room and bedrooms.

Julia said: “I’m washing up in my sink in the bathroom. My washing is done by my neighbour because I’ve got no washing machine… I just want to stay here. I want to unpack. I want to enjoy my life. I’m 64 and I just want to enjoy what I’ve got left, have my grandchildren over and everything else. To live happily, like most people do.”

Julia’s daughter, Debra Cook, 36, added: “With Orbit and Bexley Council together, I don’t think they really understand that we’ve lost someone. For them, we’re just a door number, we’re just a property.

"They’re not looking inside that property and seeing that there’s a family there. We’re trying to mourn and having to fight left, right and centre. It just doesn’t make it easier.”

Orbit said it sympathises with the family’s situation but that it’s legally obliged to allocate homes based on criteria set by Bexley Council.

The housing association will support Julia’s son to find an alternative suitable home, but Julia is deemed to have been adequately housed in her former tenancy so is not being offered help.

Bexley Council had advised Julia, in an email to her daughter in March 2023, not to give up the suitable tenancy she had and to not move into the bungalow until the adaptation works were ready to begin.

In a further email in December 2023 Bexley Council confirmed the extension works had been agreed and Julia would be able to live in the property permanently once they were completed.

However with the works not starting until this summer, Julia felt she needed to move in before they were complete, in order to help look after her mum.

Julia explained: “She got worse and we asked about me moving in to help her and they said it was not a problem, but we asked for a three-bedroom house or a place that could be converted.”

But with Dorothy’s mum having passed away, the soon-to-be three-bedroom home, which will also have a refitted kitchen, will be offered to someone Bexley Council believes needs it more.

Julia claims she has been told by the council she can stay at the property until her OT report to determine her housing need is completed, which she said could take until Christmas.

She hopes her long-term health needs such as COPD and pleurisy will mean the accessible bungalow would be suitable for her to stay in.

A Bexley Council spokesperson told the LDRS that the authority does not comment on individual cases.

An Orbit spokesperson said: “We would like to express our sincere condolences to the family of Ms Bowater. We appreciate that the tenancy of a family home is an emotive subject especially at such a difficult time.”

They added: “[Ms Andrews’ son] has completed a succession application. However as a not-for-profit social landlord we are legally bound to allocate our homes in accordance with the criteria set by the local council which are there to ensure that homes are allocated fairly based on the needs and priority levels of people on their waiting list.”

The spokesperson said Ms Andrews’ son will unfortunately not meet the criteria for remaining in the property because when the works are completed it will have more bedrooms than he needs, however they will find him somewhere else to live, and he can stay in the bungalow until then.