Migrant on disability benefits who has spent a year in retirement home with family says evicting them would ‘breach human rights’ – despite deluge of complaints from elderly neighbours over ‘screaming and crying’ children

A Bangladeshi immigrant who moved his family to the nursing home where he lived without permission said that evicting them would ‘violate their human rights’.

Shahidul Haque, a 59-year-old father of nine who claims benefits for sleep apnea and depression, moved into a one-bedroom flat at David Smith Court, a complex reserved for residents over 55 in Reading, in July 2024.

Just five months later, he moved his wife Jakia Sultana Monni, 28, and their three-year-old twin daughters onto the property without permission.

Officials at Southern Housing, which owns the retirement complex, told Mr. Haque he had violated his lease and took him to Reading County Court to get the apartment back.

Haque claims that he was unaware that he was not allowed to move his family into a senior housing facility because he could not read the rental agreement because he did not speak English.

He argues that evicting his family from their home would violate his human rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which protects the right to family life.

Residents of the care home in Reading, Berkshire, repeatedly complained about the family’s ‘excessive noise’ and ‘anti-social behaviour’.

According to claims submitted by Southern Housing, which is seeking to take possession of the property, elderly residents complained about the family on 39 different days between December 20, 2024 and October 5 last year.

Just five months later, he moved his wife Jakia Sultana Monni, 28, and their three-year-old twin daughters into the property without permission.

Officials from Southern Housing, which owns the retirement complex, told Mr. Haque he had violated his lease and took him to Reading County Court to get the apartment back.

They explained that their sleep was interrupted by loud noises during the hours when they were antisocial; hearing screams, cries, and shouts; doors slamming; and children running and jumping around.

Many residents allegedly complained of not being able to sleep properly, claiming that excessive noise such as “constant hammering” could be heard during unsocial hours from 1.30am to 3.30am.

The allegations stated, ‘Residents of the dormitory reported that this situation was a daily occurrence and constantly disturbed their sleep in the early morning hours.’

On one occasion, project housing supervisor Janique Paul contacted Haque about the noise, but ‘he stated that he could not do anything about the noise because the children were young,’ court documents provided to the Southern Housing show show.

It was also revealed that her twin daughters were drawing with crayons on the walls of the flat where she paid £110.70 a week.

Court documents also allege Haque’s children pulled the emergency cord, which alerted staff to help residents in need, nine times in a single day on Dec. 20, 2024, and four times on March 14 last year.

Hague previously told the Daily Mail that she wrapped the cable around her intercom phone to prevent her daughters from pulling it.

The case last came to court on August 4 last year, when Southern Housing tried to seize the flat.

Southern Housing told how Haque moved into the property after applying for homelessness to West Berkshire Council in July 2024.

In October, Haque decided to apply for his wife and twin daughters to join him in the UK.

Without any prior warning or permission from Southern Housing, he moved his children, who are British citizens, and his wife, who was in the UK on a marriage visa, into his property on 20 December 2024 and they have been there ever since.

Haque claims he was unaware that he was not allowed to move his family into seniors accommodation because he did not speak English and could not read the lease (Image: Flat where Haque and his family lived)

He argued that evicting his family from the flat would violate his human rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which protects the right to family life (Image: Flat where Haque and his family live)

Residents of a nursing home in Reading, Berkshire, repeatedly complained about ‘excessive noise’ and ‘anti-social behaviour’ from their families (Image: Flat where Haque and his family lived)

At a hearing in August, deputy district judge Simon Lindsey refused to immediately order Southern Housing to take possession of the flat after hearing from Haque’s lawyer that removing him from the property would interfere with his right to family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The judge adjourned the case until January 6 this year, but Reading County Court confirmed the hearing has now been postponed until May 5.

Meanwhile, on November 30 last year, Southern had filed a scathing response to Haque’s plea, claiming that Haque’s diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, hypertension and depression meant he should not be evicted from the property.

Jared Norman, representing Southern, said Haque had to prove that he was disabled, writing: ‘It is denied that any of the defendant’s alleged condition or disability or anyone else in his condition made him more likely to require assistance as alleged.

‘The problem is not the Defendant’s characteristics, circumstances or any disability, but the unsuitability of the Premises and surrounding buildings for the Defendant’s wife and children respectively to reside in and around them.

‘It is submitted that in order for the Defendant and his family to continue to reside at the Property, other residents of properties near the Property should not have to suffer.

‘The Claimant received at least 14 complaints about the Defendant or his family from neighboring residents between 30 December 2024 and 17 March 2025.

‘In addition, the tow cable available on the property to assist residents should they require assistance was pulled, inter alia, nine times on 20 December 2024 and four times on 14 March 2025, resulting in distress or inconvenience and/or wasting time and/or effort on those present to assist residents in need.’

The lawyer also said that Haque breached a clause of the lease in which he agreed not to damage or misuse the property, alleging that ‘the Defendant breached section 113 by, inter alia, the Defendant’s children drawing on the walls with crayons’.

Responding to Haque’s claim that he could not understand the lease because it had not been translated into Sylheti and he had not been provided with a translator, Norman added: ‘The Defendant signed the lease for the Property and in doing so confirmed that he had read, understood and agreed to the terms and conditions.’

Haque’s amended defense, submitted on October 10 last year, argued that it would be unreasonable to order the seizure of the property.

Isabel Bertschinger, representing Haque, said: ‘The Claimant’s decisions to establish, pursue and pursue possession are incompatible with the Defendant’s rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and possession would constitute a disproportionate interference therewith.

‘The defendant relies on the facts set out here and specifically reiterates that he is disabled and has limited English language skills, is on benefits and therefore has a low income.

‘His wife and children have just arrived in the UK and will be particularly vulnerable if the family becomes homeless or separated. Evicting him from his home would have a significantly detrimental effect on the Defendant’s health and well-being and therefore his private life; Preventing him from living with his wife and children will have a serious and disproportionate impact on his family life.’

Southern Housing told how Haque moved into the property after applying for homelessness to West Berkshire Council in July 2024.

Hague previously told the Daily Mail that she wrapped the emergency cord around her intercom phone to prevent her daughters from pulling it.

In an exclusive interview with Haque in September last year, she told the Daily Mail: ‘I was on my own when I filled out the lease and moved into the flat alone.

‘I didn’t know that I wouldn’t be able to carry my wife and children months later. My English is not that good and nothing was explained to me in detail.

‘Southern Residence can’t just kick us out. We have to stay here because we have nowhere else to go.

‘What we really need is a bigger house. This property is not suitable for a family. It’s too small, just for one person.

‘We only have one bedroom and so we have to put two beds together. One for me and my wife, one for my daughters. It’s too crowded.

‘If Southern Housing or West Berkshire Council can find us somewhere more suitable, we will go. But right now we have no other place; here.”

Haque has lived in England since 1997 and says he holds a British passport.

He was married to his first wife and had seven children and lived in a four-bedroom house in Plaistow, East London.

But when she divorced, she became homeless and was placed first in temporary accommodation in Newham and then in social housing, before being transferred to Berkshire.

Mr Haque previously worked in a Bangladeshi restaurant in London. But now he is registered as disabled and receives taxpayer money for diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, hypertension and depression.

In September 2025, the Attorney General said Labor would consider ‘robust’ changes to the way British courts interpret Article 8 of the ECHR due to concerns that it is being misused.

Article 8 has been used repeatedly by illegal immigrants and serious criminals to defeat efforts to deport them from the UK.

The case continues.