Allocations, Lettings &

Homelessness

An update on the latest

Case Law

Jan Luba QC

Housing Team

Garden Court Chambers

Homelessness

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

ALLOCATIONS

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

Keeping up-to-date

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

DAILY case law updates

Provided by me on Twitter

Follow me at:

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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

Putting the cases in context

Get the latest textbook(s)