'Council should have control over Westminster's vacant homes'
At another home shown to the BBC the council was able to get inside because it owned the freehold. The council said there were squatters inside and it wasn't safe, so it said it had secured the building.
"We've got three double rooms [here], so we can easily house six people - a family requiring a three-bedroom property," Ms Connerky said.
Westminster City Council wants a change in the law to allow local authorities to apply to take control of private sector properties when they have been empty for more than six months.
The council said it spent £140m over two years on temporary accommodation while at least 11,000 properties in the borough were empty.
There are various ways the council can get control of some empty homes but the process is not easy.
Adam Hug, Westminster City Council leader, said: "We're looking for the government to help reform the empty dwelling management order system and a number of other changes to help local councils and their empty property officers have those productive conversations with landowners to bring properties into use."
Dr Kristian Niemietz, editorial director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: "The issue is that we haven't been building enough houses for more than 40 years.
"Westminster Council, like many other councils, is just trying to distract from that."
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) spokesperson said they would support councils to tackle empty homes by strengthening their powers to take over the management of vacant residential premises.
They added that the government would publish more details on the matter soon.
