A Chessington family's house move was scuppered when a housing company breached data protection laws by sharing information about the family with a third party.

Paragon Community Housing was judged by a government watchdog to have breached the Data Protection Act by telling a prospective house swapper of anti-social noise complaints against Edd Denim's family.

Mr Denim, 29, and partner Vanessa Frias, 26, had been hoping to move to a larger home with their three daughters - Alyssa, six, Ellie, four, and Faith, one.

The children playing in a communal space had been the subject of complaints by a neighbour - later dismissed by police and Paragon.

Mr Denim said that after the prospective swapper was contacted by Paragon and backed out of the deal, "we tried to explain it to her but she didn't want to know".

Mr Denim, of Leatherhead Road, said: "They have made us look bad, and they have stopped us from potentially going for a move and getting a fresh start.

"I feel it was unfair of them to do that and bad practice on their part."

Paragon offered the family £100 compensation.

In a letter it told Mr Denim, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said: "From the information provided to us it appears that Paragon has breached the [Act] as it has acknowledged that they did not act correctly in disclosing this information.

"It appears that Paragon has already taken reasonable steps to address this matter and to prevent it from happening again.

"We will keep the concerns raised on file. This will help us over time to build up a picture of Paragon’s information rights practices."

Kingston and Surbiton MP Edward Davey said the situation was "deeply regrettable".

He added: "I think public bodies, amd even private companies, need to be very careful about how they use personal data.

"In this case there appears to have been a genuine harm done to Mr Denim's chances of a house move."

A Paragon spokeswoman said: "Paragon takes complaints regarding antisocial behaviour incredibly seriously.

"We have offered Mr Edd Denim monetary compensation.

"In light of this claim we have enhanced our training around the mutual exchange policy and procedure and also enhanced our data protection training, so that all staff can be confident when dealing with such issues."

Paragon is behind plans to build 13 flats on the site of the old Bridge Road car wash in Chessington, which was closed last year.

The company manages 9,000 homes in 10 boroughs across the south-east, including in Elmbridge and Richmond. It has assets of more than £500m.

In its most recent annual report it said it received a total of 308 complaints - down 22 per cent from a year earlier - and that 37 per cent of people were satisfied with how their complaints were handled.

It also received 161 compliments, and said 68 per cent of complaints were resolved within 10 working days.