Sharif v The London Borough of Camden [2013] UKSC 10 Does accommodation available for occupation by a person and those reasonably expected to reside with them have to be in one unit of accommodation? In this case, the Court of Appeal had said yes (our report...
When a deficiency makes no difference.
Ibrahim v London Borough of Wandsworth [2013] EWCA Civ 20 The question for the Court of Appeal in this second appeal from a homeless appeal, was "How should the courts deal with a plainly deficient homelessness decision when the deficiency has had no adverse...
Wrong priorities
Every now and again, there is a Local Government Ombudsman report that seems to go beyond individual instances of maladministration and instead capture something of the zeitgeist. The LGO decision summarised here (and see here for the full decision [pdf])...
Consultations, bills and mysterious advisors
A bit of a miscellany, with Government skullduggery and posturing galore. First up, Grayling's MoJ has announced a consultation into revising the rules on Judicial Review. Broadly, he is against it. Responses are due by 24 January 2013, so a busy holiday for...
Relationship breakdown and intentional homelessness
Amanda Carthew v Exeter County Council (2012) CA (Civ Div) 4 December 2012 [Not on Bailii, on lawtel only as a note - if anyone has more information or a transcript of judgment, we'd be very grateful...] Where a homeless applicant had previously transferred...
Disputed facts, s.204 appeals and Article 6 to the ECtHR?
You may recall Ms Ali of Ali & Ibrahim v Birmingham CC (heard in the Supreme Court as Tomlinson & Ors v Birmingham City Council [2010] UKSC 8 (our report here) The issue in Ms Ali's case was a dispute of fact about whether an offer of accommodation...
Deja Vu All Over Again (and again)
In Samin v Westminster CC [2012] EWCA Civ 1468 [not on bailii yet - lawtel has a transcript], the Court of Appeal had to decide what was meant by someone being "temporarily unable to work" so as to determine if Mr Samin retained his status as a "worker"...
JR, the rule of law, and administrative justice
According to Cameron, there is a need to restrict the right to judicial review to ensure the country's economic competitiveness. As he put it, judicial review should, therefore, cost more, have shorter deadlines, and fewer rights of appeal. This is so that...
A cautionary tale
In R(Hamid) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] EWHC 3070 (Admin) [not on Baili yet, but apparently on Lawtel], the Divisional Court signalled its intention to get much tougher on out of hours administrative court applications to the duty...
Suitability: Of time and distance
With perfect timing, a County Court section 204 appeal judgment reaches us, on the issue of suitability of temporary accommodation. With the context of out of borough placements and the post Localism Act situation, this seemed worth considering and quoting...
‘Homeless Legislation – a thing of the past?’
[Update at the end of the post 15/11/2012] Now that the Guardian has the story, I feel able to quote a briefing paper by Andy Gale of the DCLG that had found its way to me. This is the briefing that Andy Gale has been giving to Council officers (not...
Deja Vu All Over Again
Konodyba v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea [2012] EWCA Civ 982 This was an appeal against a decision that a homelessness applicant was not eligible for assistance. It’s been on my blogging to-do list since July, for which I can only apologise. The...