A homeless Somalian refugee who refused a high-rise council flat because she is scared of heights and 'it was too small' has won a High Court battle.
Naima Mohamoud took legal action after Birmingham City Council refused to offer her an alternative.
A Midlands county court had backed the local authority but today the Court of Appeal ruled in Ms Mohamoud's favour after senior judges agreed she was 'confused about the system'.
The mother-of-one, who speaks little English, claimed she had not realised that the offer of the flat in Cadbury House, Birmingham, was final and had thought that she would have other options.
Appeal judges - who analysed the case at a hearing in London - concluded that she might have been confused and said the council should review her case.
A refugee took a council to the High Court when she turned down their offer of a high rise council house claiming she was scared of heights.
Somalian Naima Mohamoud claims she is separated from her husband and said she was thrown out of friend’s house when she told them she was due to give birth.
She applied for council accommodation and signed a form agreeing that if she refused an offer of a home she would not get another.
Ms Mahamoud was given the chance to move into a tower block, by Birmingham City Council.
But she refused saying ‘it was too small, she was frightened of heights and she did not want to live in a high rise flat,’ case papers revealed.
Ms Mohamoud had no idea she was effectively opting out of a property but the council said they had discharged their duty. Ms Mohamoud was left her to fend for herself and her unborn baby.
She claimed that despite barely speaking English, a council employee recorded she did not require an interpreter and she did not understand the procedure.
Miss Mohamoud later signed a sheet, which said, ‘I understand that if I refuse an offer of any type in any area of the City, that is suitable to my needs as defined by strict legislation, I will not receive a further offer’.
Legal fight: Birmingham City Council (pictured) officials had said Naima Mohamoud was warned that refusing housing could lead to her losing out completely but senior judges said today that she was 'confused'
Today the Court of Appeal upheld her challenge against the council not to offer her another home, but she was still left without the guarantee of a home.
‘The challenge is made on the basis that Ms Mohamoud’s confusion led her to refuse the offer of accommodation in circumstances where, if she had understood the true position, she would have accepted it’, Lord Justice Moore-Bick said, sitting with Lord Justice McFarlane and Mrs Justice Proudman.
‘It is hard to see how the Council could have made it clearer that only one offer would be made.
‘However I can understand how someone, either reading the letter cursorily or not fully understanding it, might find the bidding process confusing’, the judges said.
‘It may be the case that Ms Mohamoud was confused about the system.
‘I would only add that Ms Mohamoud should not take this judgment as meaning that she will inevitably receive another offer of accommodation'.
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