The plaintiffs had fallen behind with their rent, which resulted ultimately in an order for possession. The council found that the plaintiffs were threatened with homelessness intentionally.
Held: In relation to the argument that a person is not intentionally homeless unless he intended to become homeless or at any rate appreciated that homelessness would result from his action, it was held that ‘deliberately’ governs only the act or omission, not the homelessness. If a person deliberately does an act the reasonable result of which is his eviction, and the act is in fact the cause of his eviction, then he becomes homeless intentionally even though he did not appreciate that it would be the cause. Similarly, if a person deliberately does an act and eviction is the likely result of what he deliberately does, then he becomes threatened with homelessness intentionally, even though he may not have appreciated that it would be the likely result.
Judges:
Judge Goodall
Citations:
[1982] 1 All ER 726
Statutes:
Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977 17
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v London Borough of Hounslow ex parte R Admn 19-Feb-1997
The Applicant was 65 years old, with a history of criminal offences including serious sexual assaults on children. On release from prison, he presented himself as homeless. After his imprisonment, he had realised that he would be unable to keep up . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Housing
Updated: 05 May 2022; Ref: scu.181070
