The appellant challenged the decision of the respondent to redetermine the rents for two properties, saying that the officer had wrongly interpreted the meaning of locality when looking for comparable properties.
Held: The determinations were quashed. Lord Hope of Craighead said: ‘para 4(6)(b) imposes a geographical control on the extent of the area within which the variety referred to in para 4(6)(c) is to be found. The result of its application may be wide or narrow in terms of geography according to the circumstances. This will depend on the judgment of the rent officer. He must however apply the criterion mentioned in para 4(6)(b) to every neighbourhood which he wishes to add to the one where the dwelling is situated. The only rents which can be added to his basket are those for dwellings which are to be found within a neighbourhood which satisfies this criterion. Those for premises in a neighbourhood which fails to satisfy it must be discarded.’
Lord Rodgers dissenting.
Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury
[2008] UKHL 58, Times 20-Aug-2008, [2008] 1 WLR 1702
Bailii, HL
Rent Officers (Housing Benefit Functions) Order 1997
England and Wales
Citing:
At first instance – Heffernan, Regina (on the Application of) v the Rent Service Admn 10-Oct-2006
The claimant sought judicial review of the redetermination of housing benefits payable in respect of two flats rented out by him. The rent office said that the regulations were merely intended to put in statute form the previous practice used when . .
Appeal from – Rent Service v Heffernan, Regina (on the Application of) CA 13-Jun-2007
Appeal against housing benefit rederminations. . .
Cited – Regina (Gibson) v The Housing Benefit Review Board for East Devon CA 1993
The court described the purpose of the scheme for determining fair rents. . .
Cited – Regina (Saadat) v The Rent Service CA 26-Oct-2001
When choosing an area over which comparisons of rents are to be made, the Service had to look at a locality which was no larger than was necessary to establish such a comparison. The choice of too wide an area resulted in the inclusion within the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Housing, Benefits
Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.271276