A mum who says she was left in £6,000 arrears after the council did not pay her housing benefit is facing eviction.

Olatokunbo Koiki, who lives in Myddleton Road, Hornsey, said she had been repeatedly penalised for mistakes Haringey Council had made after she began claiming benefits.

Ms Koiki said the council’s claim that she had not provided enough information was wrong and she had submitted all the documents they asked for in good time.

She said: “It has been extremely stressful. For the last two weeks, I have not been able to function at work. I have been waking up every morning in anxiety.”

Ms Koiki says she was awarded full housing benefit when she moved into a flat in Myddleton Road in August 2017.

It was arranged for her benefits to be paid directly to her landlord, Sanctuary Housing.

But the following January, she says she received a repossession notice from Sanctuary Housing telling her she was in arrears of more than £6,000 because the council had not paid her housing benefits.

She claims she was later told by the council that her payments had been suspended and her benefits had been cancelled.

This was supposedly because she had not submitted required information in time.

But Ms Koiki insisted she had submitted the documents requested via the council’s web portal within the appropriate timeframe.

She says her benefits were later reinstated, and the council made the full payments to Sanctuary Housing.

But Ms Koiki says she was then told she had been overpaid when she was claiming benefits between 2015 and 2017 and the council would reclaim the money – because she was expected to know they had made a mistake.

As a result, her current benefits are lower than they should be.

She has now received an eviction notice from Sanctuary Housing and her case has been submitted to the county court.

Ms Koiki has an 11-year-old daughter and has tried to hide the problems from her to avoid causing her distress.

She said: “I have not said anything to her. I am trying to give her some stability. She has really tried and done really well at school. I don’t want her stressing.”

“The council staff are very incompetent.”

“I have lived in Haringey all my life, but a lot of people that live in Haringey do not have the ability to challenge the council when it messes up like this.”

“It is a nightmare – a complete nightmare.”

A Haringey Council spokesperson said: “We are in frequent ongoing communication with this claimant to try to resolve this case as quickly as possible and ensure we have all the correct relevant information, but we are unable to discuss individual cases in detail.

“National housing benefit regulations are clear that all claims must be supported by evidence and any housing benefits payments can only be made according to information provided.

“Where claimants do not provide the relevant supporting evidence, this can impact on their claim, including at times leading to benefits being cancelled or paid at incorrect levels.”