DCLG has issued a consultation on suitability of accommodation in satisfaction of the main homelessness duty. It addresses two issues: the grant of an AST in the private rented sector; and the location of accommodation. The former is much more interesting...
Housing and Human Rights Round-up Part II
Three more housing-related cases have been decided recently by the ECHR: Bjedov v Croatia (29/5/12) Mrs Bjedov was granted a joint tenancy of a 'specially protected' flat in Zadar, Croatia in 1975 and she became the sole tenant after the death of her husband...
Part VII and Procedure
Two very recent Court of Appeal judgements have looked at the extent of a Local Authority's obligations under Reg 6(2) of the Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Review Procedures) Regulations 1999: Maswaku v Westminster CC and El Goure v RB Kensington...
Outside the Boxall
This is an important case on costs on settled Judicial Reviews. Following on Bahta & Ors, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Ors [2011] EWCA Civ 895 [Our report] and Lord Jackson's view on JR costs, the Court of Appeal...
Stick or Twist
R (MD)(Afghanistan) v Secretary of State [2012] EWCA Civ 194 is an immigration case but merits wider attention because of what it has to say about the interplay between renewing a judicial review claim and appeals. MD was an asylum seeker. The Secretary of...
Doomed, Doomed I tell you.
As an illustration of how complex housing law has become, and how difficult for a litigant in person, comes Sheppard v London Borough of Richmond-Upon-Thames [2012] EWCA Civ 302. This was a failed permission for second appeal to the Court of Appeal,...
Costs on settled appeals
A quick note on a useful case on costs where an appeal has been settled. Harripaul v London Borough of Lewisham [2012] EWCA Civ 266 was an appeal to the Court of Appeal from a failed S.204 appeal to the County Court on a homeless matter. The appeal was given...
More than a minor problem
We have news of a recent, and rather important, county court case concerning the termination of a tenancy which had been purported to have been granted to a minor, but who had since turned 18. The case in question is Croydon LBC v Tando. You may recall that...
“Tenting on the Old Camp Ground”
Babenko v Ukraine Appn No 68726/10 of 4/1/12 is an ECHR Chamber decision which looks at the relationship between an applicant's right to social housing from the state and Art 1 of the ECHR First Protocol. The Applicant was a WWII veteran who registered in...
Vulnerability permissions to appeal
The Pereira test is not exactly easy to apply and equally difficult to challenge on a first appeal. In Kata v Westminster CC [2011] EWCA Civ 1456 and Simpson-Lowe v Croydon BC [2012] EWCA Civ 131 (neither are on baili or westlaw, but are on Lexis; Kata is...
Homelessness, proportionality and children
A very welcome guest report on this s.204 Housing Act 1996 Appeal by Alice Hilken of 1 Pump Court, who acted for the appellant, instructed by Rahman & Co. Kumaning v London Borough of Haringey December 2011, Central London County Court, HHJ Saggerson The...
No comparing
When considering 'general housing circumstances in the area' under Housing Act 1996 s.177(2) on a s.202 review, can the review officer conduct a comparative exercise? A s.204 appeal decision in Chawa v Kensington and Chelsea RLBC (Central WLondon County...