A criticised council policy to advise people facing eviction to sit tight until they are kicked has been deemed good value by an in-house review.

Sutton Council faced criticism from landlords and tenants for its policy of advising tenants facing homelessness to stay in their properties after their eviction date and wait for bailiffs prompting it to conduct a review of its procedures.

The review, carried out by Colin Beech, the council's executive head of leisure and libraries, concluded the council's procedures are best for preventing homelessness and provide good value for money.

Councillor Richard Clifton, vice chairman of the council's development control committee, said: "Subjecting our policies and procedures to this type of scrutiny was a very valuable process which will enable us to offer an even better service to landlords and tenants.

"It is, nonetheless, particularly pleasing to note that the scrutiny determined that Sutton Council is providing a value-for-money service that looks after the needs of tenants and landlords and benefits all council taxpayers by reducing spend on B&Bs."

Council policy states someone can only be forced to leave their rented home after they have been served with a notice to quit, a possession order and a bailiff's warrant. After that, they can be removed from the property by a bailiff but the whole process can take up to five months and cost the landlord hundreds of pounds.

But the report states the process provides valuable time to find homes for the tenants preventing the need for the council to pay for their accommodation in bed and breakfasts.

The report also noted the council's policy is the same as those of other boroughs and observed that when the procedures were relaxed earlier this year, cases of homelessness went up prompting the council to revert to its old policy.