‘This was the second appeal from a review decision upholding the suitability of an offer of a private sector tenancy in Walsall in discharge of Waltham Forest’s s.193 duty to Ms Webb-Harden. Ms Webb-Harden is a single mother with three children, who had lived in London all her life. She had become homeless from the termination of a private sector tenancy.’
Nearly Legal, 28th August 2023
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has dismissed a single mother’s appeal against a decision of a reviewing officer of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, finding that the accommodation offered to her was “reasonable and suitable”.’
Local Government Lawyer, 24th August 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has dismissed a woman’s appeal against a decision that a room in a hostel was “suitable” accommodation for her to continue to occupy.’
Local Government Lawyer, 23rd August 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Elbhiri v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. 9 December 2022. Central London County Court (Unreported – copy of judgment )
This is a s.204 appeal judgment that I have been sitting on for an inexcusably long time, ever since I was kindly sent the judgment. This is particularly inexcusable as it is a very interesting point at issue in this appeal. The brief background was that RBKC owed Ms Elbhiri the full housing duty following her homeless application. Ms E had been placed in temporary accommodation under s.193 Housing Act 1996. She then sought a review under s.202 of the suitability of the accommodation. The review upheld the suitability of the accommodation and Ms E brought a s.204 appeal.’
Nearly legal, 13th August 2023
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘A second appeal to the Court of Appeal on Folkestone’s decision that Ms Hodge was intentionally homeless because she had left a room in a hostel run by a charity that she was occupying under licence.’
Nearly Legal, 31st July 2023
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘The launch comes not long after the latest statistics showed households and children in temporary accommodation in England are at record highs.’
The Independent, 31st July 2023
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘Our grateful thanks to Daniel Grütters of One Pump Court for the following note and copy of the judgment in a section 204 appeal on the suitability of temporary accommodation.’
Nearly Legal, 28th July 2023
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘Ms UO and her 3 children, aged 11, 5 and 3, were homeless and had applied to LB Redbridge. The family had NASS accommodation in the Tottenham area since 2021, after NASS accommodation in Croydon and West Ham from 2019. Ms UO’s elder children were enrolled in school in Tottenham and the youngest in the nursery attached to the school. MS UO had connections in Redbridge herself. Following Ms UO’s grant of asylum in 2022, the NASS accommodation ceased. She applied to Redbridge. The application stressed how important the children’s school was to them. She then did not hear anything from Redbridge until the day before her eviction from the NASS accommodation.’
Nearly Legal, 18th June 2023
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘A High Court judge has allowed a homeless single mother’s claim for judicial review against the London Borough of Redbridge on all four grounds.’
Local Government Lawyer, 14th June 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Emily Howe, Kelly Lloyd and Laura Waby round up the latest housing law judgments of interest to housing associations and local authorities.’
Local Government Lawyer, 17th May 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘A judicial review on three grounds:
i) Breach of section 193(2) Housing Act 1996 duty to secure suitable accommodation;
ii) The Westminster’s allocation policy was unlawful in that it denied the applicant medical need priority reasonable preference, restricting him to homeless reasonable preference; and
iii) Breach of the duty under section 166A(9)(a)(ii) Housing Act 1996 to provide the applicant sufficient information to permit the applicant to determine whether housing accommodation appropriate to his needs is likely to be available to him and, if so, how long it is likely to be before such accommodation becomes available for allocation to him.’
Nearly Legal, 8th May 2023
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘A homelessness appeal has been allowed on three out of four grounds on behalf of a man who was placed in unsuitable accommodation by Cambridge City Council.’
Local Government Lawyer, 2nd May 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘There are two matters of interest in this unusual judgment by Mr Justice Mostyn in respect of a claim for judicial review brought by a teenager against a local authority, originally published on The National Archives as TT v Essex County Council [2023] EWHC 721 (Fam) but replaced as [2023] EWHC 826 (Admin).’
Transparency Project, 10th April 2023
Source: transparencyproject.org.uk
‘More than 1,000 homeless people have been arrested for sleeping rough or begging since the government pledged to scrap the nearly 200-year-old Vagrancy Act, new figures show.’
The Guardian, 2nd April 2023
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Our grateful thanks to Alice Irving of Doughty Street Chambers for this note of a section 204 appeal decision, which is interesting in the approach to representations in response to ‘minded to’ letters, to affordability assessments and on the timing and role of skeleton arguments in s.204 appeals.
Tapper v Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (unreported, 4 January 2022, County Court at Central London, HHJ Parfitt)’
Nearly Legal, 26th March 2023
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has said that vulnerable people are facing homelessness because some councils are “still not getting it right”, in a report marking five years since the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act.’
Local Government Lawyer, 21st March 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found that Croydon Council placed a woman fleeing domestic violence in “unsuitable accommodation” for three years, as well as finding poor complaint handling.’
Local Government Lawyer, 13th March 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘There has been a 76% jump in the number of no-fault eviction notices issued by landlords, putting tenants at a higher risk of becoming homeless, government data has revealed.’
Local Government Lawyer, 28th November 2022
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘YR, R (On the Application Of) v London Borough of Lambeth (2022) EWHC 2813 (Admin). Ms YR had applied to Lambeth as homeless. Her household consisted of her three children and four of her sister’s children, A, her youngest child, is 6 months old; R is 4; Y is 7; B is 9; H is 12; J is 12; and S is 16. Ms YR is a Spanish national with pre-settled status, and Spanish speaking. After becoming homeless in December 2021, she had been staying with a friend, but this could not continue. Following an approach to Lambeth, she was given temporary accommodation in a two bedroom flat in the borough, and the children were enrolled in schools in Lambeth. The accommodation was obviously overcrowded. A formal homelessness application was made in July 2021, with a request for suitable accommodation, together with a request for assessment of the children as in need under section 17 Children Act 1989.’
Nearly Legal, 20th November 2022
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘One in three black people who have experienced homelessness have also faced racial discrimination from a landlord, six times more than the general population of those who had struggled for shelter, a study reveals.’
The Guardian, 21st November 2022
Source: www.theguardian.com
© Inner Temple Library 2023