Abdikadir v London Borough of Ealing (2022) EWCA Civ 979 Where an offer of out of borough accommodation had been made and refused, and a discharge of duty upheld on review, did the council's failure to notify the other council under section 208(2) Housing...
Suitable for the likes of you
Today (Weds 11 May) the Govt sneaked out The Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (Amendment) (England) Order 2022. This comes into effect on 1 June 2022 and is stated to expire on 1 June 2023 The regs amend The Homelessness (Suitability of...
No messing about.
R (Elkundi) v Birmingham and R (Imam) v Croydon (2022) EWCA Civ 601 (not on Bailii yet. Copy of the judgment here) Two joined appeals on local authority duties to provide suitable accommodation under section 193 (2) Housing Act 1996 were before the Court of...
Suitability, enquiries, gender reassignment and the public sector equality duty.
Biden v Waverley Borough Council (2022) EWCA Civ 442 An interesting Court of Appeal decision on the sufficiency of enquiries to establish suitability of accommodation offered in discharge of section 189B Housing Act 1986 duty where the homeless person has...
Suitability and affordability – Court of Appeal on assessing affordability
Paley v London Borough of Waltham Forest (2022) EWCA Civ 112 This was a second appeal to the Court of Appeal on the issue of whether Waltham Forest had taken to correct approach to assessing the affordability of an offer of a private tenancy in Stoke on...
9 years of unsuitable accommodation – LGO award of £27,000
Our thanks to Naomi Trewinnard of Harrow Law Centre for this note of a remarkable Ombudsman decision in which LB Brent was found to have left a homeless household in wholly unsuitable temporary accommodation for 9 years - yes, 9 years. I've never seen an...
A Sigh of Relief: Elkundi & Ors v Birmingham City Council
Hot on the heels of the decision in R (Imam) v London Borough of Croydon (2021) EWHC 739 (Admin) (see our note here) comes this altogether more satisfying decision, Elkundi & Ors, R (On the Application Of) v Birmingham City Council (2021) EWHC 1024...
Mandatory relief when left in unsuitable temporary accommodation.
Imam, R (On the Application Of) v The London Borough of Croydon (2021) EWHC 739 (Admin) This is the judgment in a judicial review claim seeking a declaration that Croydon was in breach of its statutory duty under section 193(2) of the Housing Act 1996 to...
County court homelessness appeal assortment
AB v London Borough of Barnet. County Court at Central London, 1 October 2020. HHJ Saunders (Unreported. Copy of judgment here.) A s.204 Housing Act 1996 appeal of a review decision that an offer of accommodation in West Yorkshire was suitable in discharge...
When is suitable?
London Borough of Bromley v Broderick (2020) EWCA Civ 152 When assessing the suitability of a (refused) offer of accommodation made under s.193 Housing Act 1996 duty, what is the relevant date, or dates? That was the issue for the Court of Appeal in this...
Timing is everything
When does the main housing duty under s. 193, Housing Act 1996 to provide suitable accommodation to 'successful' homeless applicants, who currently are in a property, take effect? Such a simple and important question; such tortured authorities, inflected by...
Private sector discharge and unknown landlords
Teresa Ward v LB Hillingdon. County Court at Central London. HHJ Lamb QC. 11 July 2019 (not reported elsewhere, we've seen the judgment.) The issue in this s.204 Housing Act 1996 appeal was whether the review decision upholding a private rented sector offer...