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

Chishimba v RBKC, Court of Appeal, March 25, 2013, [from a lawtel note - not on bailii yet] concerned an appeal brought by a homeless applicant. The issue was whether Ms Chishimba had become intentionally homeless.

Ms Chishimba approached the authority for assistance under Part 7. When asked about her immigraiton status she supplied the authority with a British passport. The passport was, however, a counterfeit and Ms Chishimba was not eligible for assistance. She therefore committed, at the very least, the criminal offence under s.214, Housing Act 1996.

The authority, however, were unaware it was a counterfeit passport and appear (it is not entirely clear from the note) to … Read the full post