Allocations, Lettings &
Homelessness
An update on the latest
Case Law
Jan Luba QC
Housing Team
Garden Court Chambers
The Homelessness Cases of
2014/2015
• A personal selection
• By topic
• For the past legal year
• October 2014 - October 2015
(Don’t forget – you can watch how
the Supreme Court ones were
argued!)
Applications & ‘Interim’
• A ‘dependent’ child’s application can
be determined in same way as his/her
parents:
SD v Oxford CC
Admin Court: 28 May 2015
• Interim accommodation duty can end
by refusal of suitable interim
accommodation:
Brooks v Islington LBC
Admin Court: 22 September 2015
13 August 2015
Report 13 020 158
Lancashire County Council
Local Government Ombudsman, Dr Jane
Martin, said: “Placing homeless young people in
bed and breakfast accommodation – even in an
emergency – breaches statutory guidance, which
exists to ensure vulnerable young people are not
left to cope unsupported, alone and at risk of
exploitation.
We shared our findings on councils’ inappropriate
use of B&B accommodation to house families and
children in a national report in 2013, and it is
troubling that I am still reporting on individual
cases like this.”
Is the applicant ‘Homeless’?
Tenant experiencing anti-social behaviour and harassment from neighbour:
Hussain v London Borough of Waltham Forest
Court of Appeal:
20 January 2015
Who is “Vulnerable”?
• Section 189(1)(c) & PN (England)Order
• Nearly 40 years on, two key questions
answered:
• Do you need a comparator? (If so, compared
to whom?)
• What if the applicant can manage with help?
• Johnson v Solihull MBC
• Hotak v Southwark LBC
• Kanu v Southwark LBC
Supreme Court: 13 May 2015
Eligibility
Council considered a homeless, Austrian
national ineligible for housing assistance in
the UK on the basis that he was not a
"qualified person" … because he was not in
work at the time he applied to the council as
homeless and his continuing inability to work
due to illness was not ‘temporary’.
Samin v Westminster CC
Supreme Court: heard 9 & 10 March 2015
Intentional Homelessness
• You withheld the rent: but was that the
deliberate act that got you evicted?
Najim v London Borough of Enfield
Court of Appeal:
4 March 2015
Intentional Homelessness
• What if you would have been
homeless today anyway, even if
you had not left prematurely?
Haile v Waltham Forest LBC
Supreme Court: 20 May 2015
Local connection
• The usual rules:
• Got a connection with us?
• If no, got a connection elsewhere?
• If yes, can we refer?
• If we can, shall we refer?
• The applicant who will not go back?
Johnston v City of Westminster
Court of Appeal: 2 June 2015
Main housing duty
• ‘Suitability’ of an offer under s193(5)
outside the council’s own area:
Nzolameso v Westminster CC
Supreme Court: 2 April 2015
• ‘Suitability’ of an offer that reminds the
applicant of her prison cell:
Poshteh v Royal Borough of
Kensington And Chelsea
Court of Appeal: 8 July 2015
Main housing duty (2)
• Refusal of a s193(5) ends the duty (if its trerms
complied-with) even if there is a pending
review/appeal
Faizi v Brent LBC
Administrative Court: 17 June 2015
• No duty to inspect under Housing Act 2004 (for
hazards) before making offer – in most cases
Firoozmand v Lambeth LBC
Court of Appeal: 3 September 2015
Repossessing temp accom?
• What about the interests of the children?
Mohamoud v Royal Borough of
Kensington and Chelsea
Court of Appeal: 21 July 2015
• What about a Possession Order?
ZH and CN v London Boroughs of
Newham & Lewisham
Supreme Court: 12 November 2014
Who “qualifies”
• The power of HA 1996 section 160ZA(6)
and (7) to set qualifying classes
• The December 2013 Code • Describe those classes who qualify?
• Or just those classes who do not?
• Clear and careful drafting needed
• Different rules for different types of stock?
• What categories to adopt?
• When to check for qualification: • (1) on application or
• (2) pre-let or
• (3) both?
Do we need residual discretion?
• Qualifying rules are for ‘classes’ so can
they be hard-edged, to precisely define
who is in the class or not.
• Do we need sub-classes, excepted from
the main class?
• What about the one-off case?
• Hillsden v Epping Forest DC
(appeal pending)
What went wrong in the
Ealing case?
• Auto-generated decision failed to
consider personal circumstances
• Non-qualifying class excluded those in
the RP categories
• Discrimination against women
• Breach of Children Act 2004 section 11
HA v Ealing LBC
Admin Court: 7 August 2015
(appeal pending)
Giving a ‘reasonable
preference’
• Cannot mean suspending a class of
persons in the reasonable
preference category from bidding for
a fixed initial period:
Alemi v Westminster CC
Admin Court: 22 June 2015
MONTHLY case law updates 1
“Recent Developments in Housing
Law”
By me & Nic Madge
Appears monthly in LEGAL
ACTION magazine
(publisher - Legal Action
Group)
Hard copy or on-line at
http://www.lag.org.uk/magazine/2015/07/rec
ent-developments-in-housing-law.aspx
MONTHLY case law updates 2
“Housing law
casebook update”
Contains monthly case
reports added since the
publication of the printed
book in January 2015.
You can view these case
reports without having to
sign in or create a
subscription
http://www.housinglawcas
ebook.lag.org.uk/
WEEKLY case law updates
“Housing Law Week”
Written by me
Free
Issued every Wednesday by Email.
Published by:
Sign up at:
http://www.limelegal.co.uk/hlw_signup.
asp
Finding older cases 1
Use the on-line searchable resource for
Homelessness Cases at
“Case Law Digest”
Written by me
Published by:
Subscriptions:
http://www.trownhousingconsultancy.co.
uk/the-case-law-digest/
Finding older cases 2
Use the 2015 (6th) edition of
“Housing Law Casebook”
Available as a print version or Ebook
and updated on-line
From: Legal Action Group