Thomas v Lambeth LBC, County Court at Central London, 16 March 2017 This is a s.204 appeal in the County Court of a vulnerability decision by Lambeth. A copy of the transcript of judgment is here. Of particular interest is that the judgment concerns and...
Dwelling in temporary accommodation
Dacorum Borough Council v Bucknall (aka Acheampong) [2017] EWHC 2094 (QB) When is temporary accommodation provided under the Housing Act 1996 Section 193(2) duty occupied 'as a dwelling' fo the purposes of Section 3 Protection from Eviction Act 1977? We know...
Not looked into enough to be unaware
Trindade v London Borough of Hackney (2017) EWCA Civ 942 A second appeal of a homeless decision that Ms T was intentionally homeless, on the issues of whether Ms T's actions were "an act or omission in good faith on the part of a person who was unaware of...
Education and out of borough homeless accommodation
This is going to be a very short post on a very long judgment - 275 paragraphs worth. The main case was on the right to education under article 2 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, in relation to a local authority's failure to...
Making it up as you go.
C, R (on the application of) v The London Borough of Islington (2017) EWHC 1288 (Admin) C was accepted for the full housing duty by Islington, with her 3 children, as a result of domestic violence. C is profoundly deaf. She had been living in Southwark, but...
Homeless duties, human rights and suitability decisions
Poshteh v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea [2017] UKSC 36 (For our report of the Court of Appeal decision, see here). For the facts of the case, see the earlier post. In short, Ms Posheth had refused an offer of accommodation in discharge of duty...
Regrette rien
R (oao Sambotin) v London Borough of Brent (2017) EWHC 1190 (Admin) Once a local authority has made a homeless decision under section 184 Housing Act 1996, can it change its mind? That was the issue in this judicial review. Mr S had applied to Brent as...
A bluffers guide to the Homeless Reduction Act 2017
The Homelessness Reduction Act has now received royal assent. The Act itself is here. There is no date yet for it to come into force - there will need to be statutory guidance produced first - and the current guess is that it is likely to be in 2018....
Equalities on the 14th floor
Chatokai v Salford City Council. Manchester Civil Justice Centre, 11 April 2017 (Not reported elsewhere) This was a s.204 Housing Act 1996 appeal of Salford's review decision that Mr C was not homeless. The central issue was whether Salford's review officer...
Just too much effort… Barnet and homeless applications
The Local Government Ombudsman has issued a quite withering decision on a complaint about Barnet Council's failure to make a formal decision on repeated homeless applications by a homeless woman. The woman became homeless in January 2015 after eviction by a...
Andy Gale, misuse and me. FAO housing options officers
[Update 20/03/17 - Locata have come back to me again and are changing the relevant wording in the toolkit. The issue is resolved.] I didn't want to have to write this, but sadly I have to, to protect my and our own position here on NL. Because Andy Gale...
World enough and time – suitability, distance and time
Barakate v LB Brent. County Court at Central London. 16 October 2016 (copy of judgment) A section 204 Housing Act 1996 appeal of the suitability of LB Brent's offer of private sector accommodation to Mr B of a property in Birmingham. Mr B, his wife and three...