'Building Britain's Future', a broad Government policy direction document, has been put out and must be regarded as an early draft of the Labour election manifesto. As people may well have heard, social housing and the allocation thereof features in the...
Searching around …
NL set a kind of challenge. There hasn't been anything interesting I could find, but there is a kind of footnote to allocations by way of a circular issued by CLG under section 169, Housing Act 1996, to honour a commitment made to members of the armed...
Ahmad: the cup's half empty
As they say in American tv shows: ohmigod. R(Ahmad) v LB Newham [2009] UKHL 14 is now available and the Lords have done a pretty good job at destroying the jurisprudence built up by the High Court and Court of Appeal in Part 6 cases. The headlines are: (a)...
Allocations and Homelessness amendments
Before the excitement of Ahmed tomorrow, there are two legislative developments to note. Firstly, the Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2009, SI 2009/358, has just been published. It waives the requirement...
Ahmad: Wednesday
Just to let you know that the HL are handing down judgment on Wednesday in R (Ahmad) v Newham LBC, the Part VI allocations case. We reported the CA decision here. A lot's riding on this case - the first time the HL have considered Part VI - and the rumours...
Your name's not down, you're not getting in
R (Ariemuguvbe) v LB Islington (2009) QBD (Admin) 24/02/09 [just on Lawtel, not on Bailii yet - what's up with Bailii?] concerned the meaning of 'household' for the purposes of Part VI Housing Act 1996. A. had applied to Islington as homeless and Islington...
Allocations/Homelessness
Alam v LB Tower Hamlets[2009] EWHC 44 (Admin) is one of those interesting cases that you get in allocations - well, interesting because a council like LB Tower Hamlets should probably know better than to have an obscure clause in its allocations scheme which...
Local Housing Authorities to build new homes… perhaps
Local government finance is a fascinating area. Honestly. Those local housing authorities which still retain housing stock are required keep records of their housing income and expenditure. They also operate a Housing Revenue Account ("the HRA"). The HRA is...
On the naughty step – on tour
Nearly Legal's naughty step has recently taken the complicated, slow and interrupted trip from Norwich to North Wales. It is is with reluctance, several changes of train, and a painful recovery of repressed traumatic memory that we now find ourselves in the...
Ahmad v Newham in the Lords
R (Ahmad) v Newham LBC is being heard in the Lords on Monday 19 January and Tuesday. This is an important case on allocation policies and cumulative need. See our post on the Court of Appeal decision here. We'll report on the outcome as soon as...
EU Workers and housing eligibility
Barry v London Borough of Southwark [2008] EWCA Civ 1440 concerned an EEA national's eligibility for social housing, via a Part VII application. EEA 'workers' are eligible for housing assistance as they are not persons subject to immigration control for the...
On the naughty step
Please welcome to the naughty step the head of housing for Norwich City Council, Kristine Reeves, along with other council officers. Why? Some pernicious housing policy or dodgy choice based letting scheme? No. Ms Reeves took a rather more personal interest...