‘Emily Howe, Kelly Lloyd and Laura Waby round up the latest housing law judgments of interest to housing associations and local authorities.’
Local Government Lawyer, 17th May 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘A judicial review on three grounds:
i) Breach of section 193(2) Housing Act 1996 duty to secure suitable accommodation;
ii) The Westminster’s allocation policy was unlawful in that it denied the applicant medical need priority reasonable preference, restricting him to homeless reasonable preference; and
iii) Breach of the duty under section 166A(9)(a)(ii) Housing Act 1996 to provide the applicant sufficient information to permit the applicant to determine whether housing accommodation appropriate to his needs is likely to be available to him and, if so, how long it is likely to be before such accommodation becomes available for allocation to him.’
Nearly Legal, 8th May 2023
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘A homelessness appeal has been allowed on three out of four grounds on behalf of a man who was placed in unsuitable accommodation by Cambridge City Council.’
Local Government Lawyer, 2nd May 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘There are two matters of interest in this unusual judgment by Mr Justice Mostyn in respect of a claim for judicial review brought by a teenager against a local authority, originally published on The National Archives as TT v Essex County Council [2023] EWHC 721 (Fam) but replaced as [2023] EWHC 826 (Admin).’
Transparency Project, 10th April 2023
Source: transparencyproject.org.uk
‘More than 1,000 homeless people have been arrested for sleeping rough or begging since the government pledged to scrap the nearly 200-year-old Vagrancy Act, new figures show.’
The Guardian, 2nd April 2023
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Our grateful thanks to Alice Irving of Doughty Street Chambers for this note of a section 204 appeal decision, which is interesting in the approach to representations in response to ‘minded to’ letters, to affordability assessments and on the timing and role of skeleton arguments in s.204 appeals.
Tapper v Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (unreported, 4 January 2022, County Court at Central London, HHJ Parfitt)’
Nearly Legal, 26th March 2023
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has said that vulnerable people are facing homelessness because some councils are “still not getting it right”, in a report marking five years since the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act.’
Local Government Lawyer, 21st March 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found that Croydon Council placed a woman fleeing domestic violence in “unsuitable accommodation” for three years, as well as finding poor complaint handling.’
Local Government Lawyer, 13th March 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘There has been a 76% jump in the number of no-fault eviction notices issued by landlords, putting tenants at a higher risk of becoming homeless, government data has revealed.’
Local Government Lawyer, 28th November 2022
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘YR, R (On the Application Of) v London Borough of Lambeth (2022) EWHC 2813 (Admin). Ms YR had applied to Lambeth as homeless. Her household consisted of her three children and four of her sister’s children, A, her youngest child, is 6 months old; R is 4; Y is 7; B is 9; H is 12; J is 12; and S is 16. Ms YR is a Spanish national with pre-settled status, and Spanish speaking. After becoming homeless in December 2021, she had been staying with a friend, but this could not continue. Following an approach to Lambeth, she was given temporary accommodation in a two bedroom flat in the borough, and the children were enrolled in schools in Lambeth. The accommodation was obviously overcrowded. A formal homelessness application was made in July 2021, with a request for suitable accommodation, together with a request for assessment of the children as in need under section 17 Children Act 1989.’
Nearly Legal, 20th November 2022
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘One in three black people who have experienced homelessness have also faced racial discrimination from a landlord, six times more than the general population of those who had struggled for shelter, a study reveals.’
The Guardian, 21st November 2022
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘A Court of Appeal decision which has broader significance for considering overcrowding and whether it is reasonable for a homeless applicant to remain in accommodation in an HMO with shared facilities. It also flags some arguments for the future by failing to decide what overcrowding standards should be applied to HMOs.’
Nearly Legal, 24th October 2022
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘A second appeal from a section 204 appeal of Haringey’s decision to discharge homeless duty following a private rented sector offer (PRSO).’
Nearly Legal, 23rd October 2022
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘The number of renting households made homeless because of “no-fault” evictions has surged higher than pre-pandemic levels, sparking fresh calls for the government to ban the practice.’
The Guardian, 22nd September 2022
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘ZK, R (On the Application Of) v London Borough of Havering (2022) EWHC 1854 (Admin). This was a judicial review of what was claimed to be Havering’s failure to provide a lawful housing needs assessment and personal housing plan for Mr ZK, under section 189A Housing Act 1996.’
Nearly Legal, 4th September 2022
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘The Queen on the Application of Fokou v London Borough of Southwark (2022) EWHC 1452 (Admin) (not on Bailii, judgment on Westlaw). This was an application for interim relief in judicial review proceedings regarding suitability of accommodation and alleging breach of the Children Act 2004 s.11(2) duty to discharge the Council’s functions in such a way as to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.’
Nearly Legal, 21st August 2022
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘Following the the Court of Appeal judgment in Bullale v City of Westminster Council (2020) EWCA Civ 1587 (our note) quashing Westminster’s review decision, Westminster had another go at a review decision as to whether Ms Bullale was intentionally homeless or not. In fact they had a further two goes. The second review decision went against Ms B, but the following s.204 appeal was compromised and a fresh, third, review decision undertaken. That also went against Ms B, and this is the resulting s.204 appeal judgment.’
Nearly Legal, 21st August 2022
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘The London Borough of Lambeth has been told by the High Court to find accommodation for a family within 12 weeks even though the applicant wishes to live outside the borough.’
Local Government Lawyer, 4th August 2022
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has recently ruled that a local housing authority failed to comply with its own acquisitions policy. Stathis Kosteletos, Clive Adams and Jonathan Hulley examine the ruling.’
Local Government Lawyer, 4th August 2022
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal over a High Court judge’s dismissal of a judicial review challenge to the Government’s decision to end the “Everyone In” initiative that was launched to get rough sleepers off the streets during the pandemic.’
Local Government Lawyer, 1st August 2022
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
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