Benefit Cap Judicial Review underway

Posted on 22/05/2013 by Giles Peaker

A four party judicial review of the Benefit Cap – now under pilot in 4 boroughs and to be rolled out in October – was issued today (Wednesday 22 May). Details are here.

The claimants argue that the Regulations are discriminatory and unreasonable. They also argue that the Secretary of State did not take proper account of the impact of the policy on women, children, the disabled, racial and religious minorities, and carers when formulating the policy.

I have also heard that permission was granted today by Collins J, on the basis that the claims were clearly arguable and urgent.

Meanwhile, judgment is awaited in the bedroom tax Judicial … Read the full post

Let’s Not Move to Wales…

Posted on 20/05/2013 by David Smith

…says the RLA. Personally I remain convinced that it is a lovely place and we should all move immediately. Why is the RLA less keen you might well ask. Well, the Welsh Government has today published the White Paper I response to the recent updated Renting Homes report produced by the Law Commission (which we wrote about here).

I am not going to follow the fad on television for repeating a mildly edited version of the previous post and then adding a small update at the end. I will only discuss here the new points, changes, and clarifications contained within the White Paper.

The Welsh Government is explicit in … Read the full post

The meaning of care and attention

Posted on 20/05/2013 by S

SL v Westminster [2013] UKSC 27 is a very important case concerning the meaning of “care and attention” in the context of s.21, National Assitance Act 1948.

We can only apologise for not writing it up sooner. All we can say is that the nearlylegal backlog of cases is threatening to rival the UK Border Agency’s backlog of immigration and asylum cases.

Facts

SL was a failed asylum seeker. He approached Westminster and asked that they provide him with accommodation under s.21, National Assistance Act 1948.

Section 21 provides that an authority is under a duty to provide persons with accommodation if:

1) by reason of age, disability, mental illness … Read the full post

Night Shelters, dwellings and housing benefit

Posted on 19/05/2013 by Giles Peaker

This a late note on OR -v- Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Isle of Anglesey CC [2013] UKUT 065 (AAC) because, bluntly, I had read it quickly at the time and overlooked its broader significance.

The issue was whether OR could receive housing benefit for his stays in a night shelter hostel. The First Tier Tribunal had held that a hostel was a dwelling for the purposes of the housing benefit regulations, because the regulations said it was. However, the First Tier found that OR was not occupying it as his home.

On appeal to the Upper Tribunal, this was found to be wrong. While the regulations … Read the full post

Priority need

Posted on 15/05/2013 by S

Hotak v Southwark LBC [2013] EWCA Civ 515 concerned a short point on whether an authority was entitled to have regard to the assistance that a homeless person would receive, in the event he became homeless, when determining whether he was vulnerable or not.

The facts of the case were this: Mr Hotak had come to London with his brother. They moved into a flat in Peckham. They were asked to leave the flat and both approached Southwark for assistance (albeit Mr Hotak’s brother at that time was ineligible for assistance and so the application was made in Mr Hotak’s name only).

Southwark accepted that Mr Hotak’s suffered from depression, … Read the full post

Ambling for Justice

Posted on 15/05/2013 by Giles Peaker

We here at Nearly Legal don’t just sit around staring at the ever increasing backlog of cases to write up. Oh no. We do other things too. One of the other things some of us are doing is the London Legal Walk on Monday 20 May.

The aim of the walk is to raise funds for not for profit/free legal advice organisations. This year, the funds are more desperately needed than ever, for reasons that should be obvious to all, cuts in funds from Legal Aid, from Councils and other bodies, allied with increasing demand from prospective clients.

So, some of the NL team will be forming part of the … Read the full post

Being civil

Posted on 14/05/2013 by J

Morshead Mansions has been involved in a quite astonishing amount of litigation. Bailii throws up 13 hits (here), cases in the LVT, Lands Tribunal, High Court and Court of Appeal. It’s really must be the most awful burden on all those involved. And now, there is another case to add to the list, Di Marco v Morshead Mansions Ltd [2013] EWHC 1068 (Ch).

Morshead Mansions Ltd is a lessee-owned company. It holds the freehold of (appropriately enough) Morshead Mansions, a block of 104 or so flats. It has two different ways of raising money. The first (and most common) is via the service charge. It seems that, at … Read the full post

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