‘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
‘Querino v Cambridge City Council. County Court at Cambridge, 29 March 2023. Continuing the trend (of which I wholeheartedly approve) of people sending me notes of judgments, the following is a note of a s.204 appeal of a suitability review decision from Toby Vanhegan of 4-5 Gray’s Inn and Manjinder Atwal of Duncan Lewis, for which we are very grateful. The issues were i) whether a “minded to” letter should have been sent, ii) whether the council should have been satisfied that the applicant could end his licence in time to take up the offer of Part VI accommodation, and iii) the review officer had wrongly excluded the applicant’s supporting material from CAFCASS.’
Nearly Legal, 1st May 2023
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘A new criminal offence of failing to prevent fraud is to be added to UK law and applied to large businesses and other large organisations.’
OUT-LAW.com, 12th April 2023
Source: www.pinsentmasons.com
‘The London Housing Directors’ Group, with support from London Councils, has issued a report setting out best practice principles on how boroughs can go beyond their statutory and regulatory responsibilities to deliver the “highest possible housing standards”.’
Local Government Lawyer, 12th April 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Afghan refugees who were resettled in London have lost a High Court bid to try to prevent them being sent to Manchester by the Home Office.’
Local Government Lawyer, 27th March 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘In his fourth and final article in a short series which focuses on case law which may assist in the defence of claims against Highways Authorities under s.41 of the Highways Act 1980, and inspired at least in part by the wintery weather sweeping across the country, Jack Harding focuses on snow and ice on the highway.’
Local Government Lawyer, 17th March 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Speech by the Chief Coroner: Death in Custody Symposium.’
Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, 14th March 2023
Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk
‘This appeal raised an issue of statutory construction. It arises in the context of a type of equipment known as commercial multi-user GSM (Global Systems for Mobile Communications) gateway apparatus (“COMUGs”). GSM gateways are telecommunications equipment containing one or more SIM cards, as used in mobile phones. They enable phone calls and text messages from landlines to be routed directly on to mobile networks. When a call is routed through a GSM gateway, the only data transmitted over the network is the number and location of the SIM card in the GSM gateway. It does not transmit information such as the identity of the calling party and (in the case of a mobile phone) the user’s location, as would ordinarily be the case without a GSM gateway.’
UKSC Blog, 8th March 2023
Source: ukscblog.com
‘The disappearance of hundreds of asylum seeking children out of Home Office run hotels is an issue of acute national concern. After the Observer reported on 21 January 2023 that “[d]ozens of asylum-seeking children ha[d] been kidnapped by gangs from a Brighton hotel run by the Home Office in a pattern apparently being repeated across the south coast”, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick informed the House of Commons that 440 children had gone missing from six hotels since July 2021. Some had been found but 200 remained missing. On 18 February the Observer further reported that children taken from Home Office hotels in Sussex had been found in 18 different police areas. On 26 January over 100 charities wrote to the Prime Minister to request an end to the “unlawful and harmful” practice of placing asylum seeking children in hotels prior to their transfer to local authority care. The charities demanded an urgent independent inquiry into the scandal.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 23rd February 2023
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘The Supreme Court has granted the London Borough of Croydon permission to appeal in a dispute over mandatory relief in cases where councils have failed to provide suitable accommodation for a person owed the main housing duty.’
Local Government Lawyer, 26th January 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The Local Government Association (LGA) has said the Government must ensure funding is made available for the successful implementation of a new law which requires venues to take steps to protect the public from terror attacks.’
Local Government Lawyer, 20th December 2022
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Councils, NHS trusts and other local bodies will be required to consider how their decision-making impacts upon members of the Armed Forces community, under a new duty introduced last week (22 November).’
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
‘The UK government is supporting a private member’s bill to bring back employers’ liability for harassment of employees by third parties at work, as well as introduce a new duty to prevent workplace sexual harassment.’
OUT-LAW.com, 3rd November 2022
Source: www.pinsentmasons.com
‘A second appeal from a section 204 appeal of Haringey’s decision to discharge homeless duty following a private rented sector offer (PRSO).’
Nearly Legal, 23rd October 2022
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
“The Supreme Court has handed down a significant judgment in BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana SA. It addresses the existence, substance and circumstances of the ‘creditor duty’ – the duty of company directors to consider or act in accordance with the interests of companies’ creditors in the context of prospective insolvency.”
Law Society's Gazette, 14th October 2022
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘A 13-year-old girl at risk of suicide and in the care of Manchester city council has languished in hospital for more than three months due to a lack of suitable placements anywhere in the country.’
The Guardian, 12th October 2022
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘People fleeing domestic abuse are being put in danger by local authorities who fail to provide housing for months on end, despite a law which should prioritise them, a new study shows.’
The Guardian, 23rd September 2022
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Bronwen Jones and Samina Iqbal of Goldsmith Chambers provide comprehensive and up to date legal information covering the duties of local authorities towards asylum-seeking children.’
Local Government Lawyer, 9th September 2022
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
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