A couple of quick notes on cases that have been sitting a browser tabs in my 'to do' window for far too long... Daff v Gyalui & Aiach-Cohen (2023) UKUT 134 (LC) Ms Daff had been ordered to pay an RRO for an unlicensed property to the tenants in the...
Mental health and security of occupation
Islam & Anor, R (On the Application Of) v London Borough of Haringey (2022) EWHC 3933 (Admin) This was a judicial review of Haringey's refusal to award Mr Islam Band A priority on its housing register, rather than Band B. Mr I and his household were...
Mea Culpa
I know, I know. Updates have been thin on the ground. I'm afraid it is the 'work and life getting in the way' thing again. I've got a lot on my plate and no time and/or energy to do case notes. So, in the meantime, here's a list of things that I will...
Homelessness and Allocation – unlawfully restricting reasonable preference
Khayyat & Anor v Westminster City Council (2023) EWHC 30 (Admin) A judicial review by two claimants of Westminster's allocation policy and its restriction of entry to the housing register to only homeless applicants to whom Westminster had decided it...
Crossing the line – what happens when the Care Act meets housing duties
Campbell, R (On the Application Of) v London Borough of Ealing (2023) EWHC 10 (Admin) This judicial review concerns the relationship between the Care Act 2014 and housing legislation, in particular the effect of s.23 of the Care Act 2014, which prevents care...
Management transfers and public functions: R(TRX) v Network Homes
This judicial review of R(TRX) v Network Homes (2022) EWHC 456 (Admin) CO/3538/2021 is a useful restatement of the principles which apply in determining when decisions of Private Registered Providers of social housing (Housing Associations) can be judicially...
A deliberate act needs options to choose between.
Milton Laines Roman (R OAO) v London Borough of Southwark (2022) EWHC 1232 (Admin) This was a judicial review of LB Southwark's refusal to place the claimant in Band 1 of its Allocation Scheme, on the basis that the claimant's current overcrowding in a...
Too soon for a reasonable preference
Montero, R (On the Application Of) v London Borough of Lewisham (2021) EWHC 1359 (Admin) This was a judicial review of LB Lewisham's allocation scheme, and specifically of the operation of the 5 year residence requirement for eligibility to join the housing...
Nur v Birmingham (Part 2): some on the allocation scheme are more equal than others
This case, Nur & Ors, R (On the Application Of) v Birmingham City Council (2021) EWHC 1138 (Admin), is the second part of a decision concerning the housing allocations scheme in Birmingham, with the December 2020 decision covered here on Nearly Legal. ...
Preference is not absolute – getting your allocation scheme wrong.
Nur & Anor, R (On the Application Of) v Birmingham City Council (2020) EWHC 3526 (Admin) This was (part of) a judicial review of Birmingham's implementation of its own allocation scheme. But before we get into the detail, we have to note at the start (as...
Overcrowding, children getting older and ‘deliberate acts’.
Flores, R (on the application of) v London Borough of Southwark (2020) EWCA Civ 1697 The was an appeal to the Court of Appeal from a first instance judicial review (our sceptical report here) of Southwark's decision that the Flores family being in a...
Nomination agreements and discrimination
Z & Anor, R (on the application of) v Hackney London Borough Council & Anor (Rev 1) (2020) UKSC 40 The issue of the application of the Equality Act to local authority nomination agreements with housing charities reached the Supreme Court. This was...