Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council v RH and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2017) UKUT 471 (AAC) A very interesting (and perhaps surprising) Upper Tribunal 3 judge decision on the issue of 'what is a bedroom' for the purposes of Housing Benefit...
Bedrooms, river beds and more
A few things... In case you didn't see it through email or social media, I wrote a long piece about social housing in the aftermath of Grenfell Tower, which is on a separate page at that link. In Scotland, the Inner House of the Court of Session heard an...
The Tribunal unleashed
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Carmichael and Sefton BC (HB) [2017] UKUT 0174 (AAC) Oh my. This was the DWP's appeal to the Upper Tribunal of the First Tier Tribunal's decision on the Carmichael's bedroom tax appeal (our report here). It was...
Misc on taxes – council and bedroom
Some notes on council tax liability and bedroom tax Upper Tribunal cases. Council tax - how do you go about setting aside and/or appealing a council tax liability order? It turns out to be far from straightforward (you might already have known this. I...
Preferring Burnip: Discrimination without justification
Rutherford & Ors, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Work & Pensions [2016] EWCA Civ 29 The Court of Appeal tackles the bedroom tax and discrimination again, and, a year on from MA & Ors, there is quite a difference. The two...
Bedroom tax updates
Assorted bedroom tax related items, while we wait for the Supreme Court to hear MA & Ors... In case number CH_2391_2015, the Upper Tribunal has ruled that an annual re-rating of housing benefit entitlement is a fresh decision each time, capable of being...
Bedroom tax and landlord’s bedroom count – UT again
The Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals) seems to have taken an opportunity to re-state, in clear terms, one of the findings of SSWP v David Nelson and Fife Council [2014] UKUT 0525 (AAC) [Our report here]. The key issue was the extent to which the...
Bedroom Tax and separated families – UT again
The Upper Tribunal has another go at the separated families issue in CH 0062 2015-00 and this time, unsurprisingly, shuts down completely the FTT dissenting position in a Middlesborough FTT decision, while upholding and amplifying MR v North Tyneside. In...
A home without a household
With thanks to Joe Halewood, comes news of this very interesting First Tier Tribunal bedroom tax appeal. In MR v North Tyneside Council and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Housing and council tax benefits : other) [2015] UKUT 34 (AAC) [Our report],...
A blind eye to Nelson
A couple of bedroom tax decisions, one Upper Tribunal, one FTT, both of which involve findings for the tenant in the landscape after the Upper Tribunal decision in Nelson (SSWP v David Nelson and Fife Council, SSWP v James Nelson and Fife Council [2014] UKUT...