‘The question in this case is whether the appellant falls within the scope of section 193 of the Housing Act 1996 as amended, which applies, by virtue of subsection (1), where the local housing authority are satisfied that ‘an applicant is homeless, eligible for assistance and has a priority need, and are not satisfied that he became homeless intentionally’. In such a case, section 193(2) requires the authority to secure that accommodation is available for occupation by the applicant. In the present case, there is no doubt that the appellant is homeless, eligible for assistance and has a priority need. The question is whether the authority were entitled to be satisfied that she became homeless intentionally.’
Held: (Lord Carnwath dissenting) She was entitled to be treated as homeless. Once she gave birth she would have had to have left the hostel in any event. The intentionally homeless category was intended to apply to those seeking to jump the housing queue. The court was to ask, whether the claimant had done or failed to do something leading to the loss of accommodation which it would have been reasonable for him or her to continue to occupy and, if so, whether his current homelessness was caused by that intentional conduct. There had to be a continuing causal connection between that deliberate act and the homelessness existing at the date of the inquiry.
Lord Neuberger, President, Lady Hale, Deputy President, Lord Clarke, Lord Reed, Lord Carnwath
UKSC 2014/0185, [2016] 1 All ER 579, [2015] 1 AC 1471, [2015] UKSC 34, [2015] WLR(D) 234, [2015] HLR 24, [2015] PTSR 784, [2015] 2 WLR 1441
SC Video, Bailii, WLRD, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary
Housing Act 1996 193
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Haile v London Borough of Waltham Forest CA 13-Jun-2014
The claimant challenged the defendant’s decision that she was intentionally homeless. . .
Cited – Dyson v Kerrier District Council CA 1980
Miss Dyson gave up her flat in Huntingdon and went to live in Cornwall. But the only accommodation which she had arranged for herself was a three month winter let of a cottage in Helston. She knew that the tenancy was not protected and that she . .
Cited – Din (Taj) v Wandsworth London Borough Council HL 26-Nov-1981
The appellants had applied for emergency housing as homeless persons, anticipating loss of their secure accomodation after falling into arrears. The Council reject their application, but a County Court quashed that decision. The Court of Appeal . .
Cited – Regina v Hillingdon London Borough Council Ex parte Puhlhofer HL 2-Jan-1986
Not Homeless Even if Accomodation Inadequate
The applicants, a married couple, lived with a young child and later also a baby in one room of a guest house. They were given breakfast but had no cooking or washing facilities. They succeeded on a judicial review of the housing authority’s . .
Cited – Regina v Hillingdon London Borough Council Ex parte Puhlhofer HL 2-Jan-1986
Not Homeless Even if Accomodation Inadequate
The applicants, a married couple, lived with a young child and later also a baby in one room of a guest house. They were given breakfast but had no cooking or washing facilities. They succeeded on a judicial review of the housing authority’s . .
Cited – Regina v Hillingdon London Borough Council, Ex parte Tinn 1988
. .
Cited – Regina (on the application of) Awua v Brent London Borough Council HL 6-Jul-1995
Tower Hamlets, having determined the applicant to be homeless, in priority need and not intentionally homeless. After she occupied temporary accomodation she was offered an alternative being told it was the council’s policy only to make one such . .
Cited – Regina v London Borough of Camden ex parte Aranda CA 21-Mar-1997
The applicant and her husband surrendered their tenancy of a house in Camden and moved to Colombia, where they obtained accommodation. On arrival in Colombia, the applicant was deserted by her husband. With no prospect of employment in Colombia, and . .
Cited – Birmingham 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 . .
Cited – ZH and CN, Regina (on The Applications of) v London Boroughs of Newham and Lewisham SC 12-Nov-2014
The court was asked whether the 1977 Act required a local authorty to obtain a court order before taking possession of interim accommodation it provided to an apparently homeless person while it investigated whether it owed him or her a duty under . .
Cited – Regina v Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Ex parte Bassett 1983
The housing applicant had given up the tenancy of a house in Basingstoke when she and her husband decided to emigrate to Canada. They moved to Canada, but their application to stay permanently was refused, and they had to return to England, where . .
Cited – Regina v London Borough of Hammersmith, ex parte P QBD 1989
The applicants were members of six homeless families who had occupied accommodation in Northern Ireland. The council concluded that members of each household except one had been guilty of criminal and anti-social behaviour, as a result of which the . .
Cited – Regina v London Borough of Harrow ex parte Fahia 1996
After deliberately losing her tenancy, the authority had provided the appliant with temporary accomodation in a guest house, but after her housing benefits were halved she lost that accomodation also.
Held: The authority had a duty to house . .
Cited – Regina v Harrow London Borough Council Ex Parte Fahia HL 16-Sep-1998
The local authority submitted first that a person making a second application for emergency housing had to demonstrate a change of circumstance which might lead to a second application being successful and second that it was for the local authority . .
Cited – Regina v London Borough of Harrow ex parte Fahia CA 7-Mar-1997
The applicant had been found to have deliberately procured her own eviction from her tenanted accommodation in Harrow. She was given temporary accommodation in a guest house, where she stayed for over a year. Her housing benefit was then reduced by . .
Cited – Regina v Hackney London Borough Council, Ex parte Ajayi 1997
Ms A had left settled accommodation in Nigeria to come to the United Kingdom, where she lived in overcrowded short-term accommodation. She was given notice to leave after she became pregnant. She challenged the authority’s decision that she had . .
Cited – Stewart v London Borough of Lambeth CA 26-Apr-2002
The local authority said that the claimant, having been sentenced to a term of five years imprisonment for drugs offences, had made himself intentionally homeless within the section. While in prison, he was evicted from the flat for non-payment of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Housing
Leading Case
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.546913
