Birmingham City Council v Aweys and others: CA 7 Feb 2008

If accommodation is not reasonable for a person to occupy, it is not suitable for him. Arden LJ said: ‘homelessness is a large social problem directly and substantially affecting the lives of many people in the UK, and those who depend on them, including young children. The causes are no doubt manifold: they include not only poverty but relationship breakdown and the shortage of suitable and affordable accommodation in the private sector.’

Judges:

Ward LJ, Arden LJ

Citations:

[2008] EWCA Civ 48, [2008] 1 WLR 2305, [2008] 2 FCR 474, [2008] HLR 32, [2008] Fam Law 407, [2008] 1 FLR 1025

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Housing Act 1996

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal fromAweys and Others, Regina (on the Application Of) v Birmingham City Council Admn 26-Jan-2007
The applicant complained that the respondent’s housing allocation policies were unlawful, giving priority to those who were homeless or in temporary accommodation over those it had been found to be in overcrowded conditions.
Held: The policy . .

Cited by:

CitedManchester City Council v Moran and Another; Richards v Ipswich Borough Council CA 17-Apr-2008
The two applicants had occupied a women’s refuge. They appealed against a refusal to consider them as homeless when they acted in such a way as to be evicted from the refuge, saying that the refuge did not constitute ‘accommodation . . which it . .
CitedMuse v London Borough of Brent CA 19-Dec-2008
The court was asked whether the section 193 duty to provide housing was lost after the applicant had refused alternative temporary accommodation. The applicant had been granted temporary accommodation, but her family grew and it became too small. . .
Not preferredBirmingham City Council v Ali and Others; Moran v Manchester City Council HL 1-Jul-2009
Homelessness Status Requires LA Action
The House considered appeals challenging whether local authorities who gave unacceptable housing to the homeless had satisfied their obligations to them as homeless people. What was meant by the phrase ‘accommodation which it would be reasonable for . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing, Local Government

Updated: 22 November 2022; Ref: scu.264121