London Borough of Hamlets v Al Ahmed (2019) EWHC 749 (QB) Mr Ahmed had applied to Tower Hamlets (oddly named as 'Hamlets' in the reported judgment) as homeless. A decision that he was not in priority need underwent a s.202 review, which upheld the...
Homeless Counties
A brief note on what I think was a homelessness s.204 appeal, but have only a local newspaper report to go on. The issue was the status of the review officer, and specifically, whether St Albans District Council had, as it purported to do, contracted out its...
Homelessness Appeals and Costs
This is a brief note on a recent High Court appeal dealing with the issue of costs on withdrawn s.204 appeals (Unichi v LB Southwark 16/10/13-from a Lawtel summary, not on Bailii). The Local Authority discharged its duty towards Ms U under s.193(6)(b) of the...
Not pending this appeal
Zak Johnson v City of Westminster [2013] EWCA Civ 773 [Not on bailii yet, transcript on Lawtel] When bringing a second appeal to the Court of Appeal from a section 204 Housing Act 1996 appeal to the County Court, what is the applicant's route to challenge a...
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...
New Practice Direction for s.204 appeals
The 59th update to the CPR comes into force on October 1, 2012 and, importantly, it brings in a raft of new practice directions for appeals. For we housing lawyers, page 81 of this document sets out the position for s.204 appeals. The appellant should now...
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...
Missing letters, Reviews and Determinations of Civil Rights
Tomlinson & Ors v Birmingham City Council [2010] UKSC 8 This is the Supreme Court judgment on the appeal from the Court of Appeal of what was then called Ali & Ibrahim v Birmingham City Council [2008] EWCA 1228 [our report here]. At issue was whether...
Support and suitability
Abdullah v City of Westminster [2007] EWCA Civ 1566 is not a new case. In fact it is two years old, but the transcript of the Court of Appeal judgement has only just come out (and it isn't on Bailii). So we'll do a brief note. The case was a second appeal...
Article 6, outsourced reviews and bias.
The outsourcing of s.202 Housing Act 1996 reviews by local authorities to private, commercial bodies came under scrutiny in Charlotte Augustin v London Borough of Barnet, Central London County Court, 22 May 2009 (no report available online yet). There are a...
Who wants to know?
A very odd case was noted on Lawtel this morning - AB v Leicester City Council, Court of Appeal, 19.2.09. ([2009] EWCA Civ 192) AB had applied under Part 7, Housing Act 1996, to Leicester City Council ("Leicester") for assistance as a homeless person. It...
S.204 Appeal out of time
Barrett v LB Southwark [2008] EWHC 1568 (Comm) was an appeal of a dismissed application for permission to make a s.204 appeal out of time on an intentional homelessness decision upheld at s.202 review. For some reason it was heard in the Commercial Court (?)...