Tag: Housing

Jakimaviciute, Regina (on The Application of) v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council: CA 6 Nov 2014

The Council’s power unders section 160ZA(7) allowing it to set the criteria for qualifying to be allocated housing did not displace its duties under section 166A(3) to give priority to the identified classes of housing applicants. That included those to whom a duty was owed y virtue of section 193(2).

Richards, Tomlinson, Bean LJJ
[2015] PTSR 822, [2015] 3 All ER 490, [2014] WLR(D) 478, [2015] HLR 5, [2014] EWCA Civ 1438, [2015] BLGR 306
Bailii, WLRD
Housing Act 1996 160ZA(7) 166A(3) 193(2)
England and Wales

Housing

Updated: 23 December 2021; Ref: scu.538315

Morris v Blackpool Borough Council and Another: CA 24 Oct 2014

The court was asked as to the proper construction of standard leases granted by the Council to its tenants, and, in particular whether it was entitled to charge certain management/administration charges as part of the service charge recoverable under those leases.

Jackson, McCombe, Gloster LJJ
[2014] EWCA Civ 1384, [2015] HLR 2
Bailii
England and Wales

Housing

Updated: 22 December 2021; Ref: scu.538011

Nzolameso v City of Westminster: CA 22 Oct 2014

The authority accepted that it owed a duty to house the appellant, and that she was unable to afford the rents payable on housing within the district after reductions in housing benefits. She was offered but refused, housing im Milton Keynes.

Moore-Bick VP CA, Black, Vos LJJ
[2014] EWCA Civ 1383, [2015] HLR 1, [2015] BLGR 52, [2015] PTSR 211
Bailii, WLRD
Housing Act 1996
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Newham London Borough Council, ex parte Sacupima and others CA 1-Dec-2000
Where a local authority had to decide whether temporary housing was suitable for a family who had applied under the homelessness provisions, the location of the short-term housing was relevant. In this case, a London authority, placing a family in . .

Cited by:
Appeal from – Nzolameso v City of Westminster SC 2-Apr-2015
The court was asked ‘When is it lawful for a local housing authority to accommodate a homeless person a long way away from the authority’s own area where the homeless person was previously living? ‘ The claimant said that on applying for housing she . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing

Updated: 22 December 2021; Ref: scu.537940

Leicester City Council v Shearer: CA 19 Nov 2013

Appeal by the Council against the dismissal of its claim for possession of a house in Leicester. The issues in this appeal are (i) whether the Council acted unlawfully in deciding to evict the widow of the former tenant and her two children without first considering the option of granting a fresh tenancy to the widow; (ii) whether the Council can rely upon procedural omissions by the widow in circumstances where the Council had misled her about what the procedure could achieve.

Jackson, Floyd LJJ, Sir David Keene
[2013] EWCA Civ 1467
Bailii
Housing Act 1996
England and Wales

Housing

Updated: 26 November 2021; Ref: scu.518036

Southwark London Borough Council v Williams: CA 1971

No Defence of Homelessness to Squatters

The defendants, in dire need of housing accommodation entered empty houses owned by the plaintiff local authority as squatters. The court considered the defence of necessity.
Held: The proper use of abandoned council properties is best determined by political decision making processes. Squatters, in urgent need of accommodation, could not claim a defence of necessity because the peril they found themselves in was ‘an obstinate and longstanding state of affairs’, rather than an immediate or emergent threat. The court denied that if a starving beggar takes the law into his own hands and steals food he is not guilty of theft.
Lord Denning MR said: ‘If homelessness were once admitted as a defence to trespass, no one’s house could be safe. Necessity would open a door no man could shut. It would not only be those in extreme need who would enter. There would be others who would imagine they were in need or would invent a need, so as to gain entry. The plea would be an excuse for all sorts of wrongdoing. So the courts must refuse to admit the plea of necessity to the hungry and the homeless: and trust that their distress will be relieved by the charitable and good.’
Edmund Davies LJ said: ‘But when and how far is the plea of necessity available to one who is prima facie guilty of tort? Well, one thing emerges with clarity from the decisions and that is that the law regards with the deepest suspicion any remedies of self-help and permits those remedies to be resorted to only in very special circumstances. The reason for such circumspection is clear -necessity can very easily become simply a mask for anarchy.’

Lord Denning MR, Edmund-Davies LJ
[1971] 1Ch 734, [1971] 2 All ER 175, [1971] 2 WLR 467
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Monsanto Plc v Tilly and Others CA 30-Nov-1999
A group carried out direct action in protesting against GM crops by pulling up the plants. The group’s media liaison officer, while not actually pulling up plants himself, ‘reconnoitred the site the day before. He met the press at a prearranged . .
Cited – In Re A (Minors) (Conjoined Twins: Medical Treatment); aka In re A (Children) (Conjoined Twins: Surgical Separation) CA 22-Sep-2000
Twins were conjoined (Siamese). Medically, both could not survive, and one was dependent upon the vital organs of the other. Doctors applied for permission to separate the twins which would be followed by the inevitable death of one of them. The . .
Cited – White v Withers Llp and Dearle CA 27-Oct-2009
The claimant was involved in matrimonial ancillary relief proceedings. His wife was advised by the defendants, her solicitors, to remove his private papers. The claimant now sought permission to appeal against a strike out of his claim against the . .
Cited – Regina v Burns, Paul CACD 27-Apr-2010
The defendant appealed against his conviction for assault. He had picked up a sex worker, driven away, but then changed his mind, and forcibly removed her from the car when she delayed. He now argued that he had the same right at common law to . .
Cited – City of London v Samede and Others QBD 18-Jan-2012
The claimant sought an order for possession of land outside St Paul’s cathedral occupied by the protestor defendants, consisting of ‘a large number of tents, between 150 and 200 at the time of the hearing, many of them used by protestors, either . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Crime, Housing, Land

Leading Case

Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.183171

Begum (Nipa) v Tower Hamlets London Borough Council: CA 1 Nov 1999

The fact that the accommodation found to be available to the applicant for housing was in Bangladesh did not make it unavailable in law. The subsections must be read separately. Accommodation could be available to the applicant even though she could not afford to travel to it. The power of the County Court to hear an appeal in such matters included the power to deal with all matters which might be heard in the High Court, including those equivalent to judicial review. The Code is not an authoritative guide to interpretation of the Act.
Auld LJ summarised what is meant by an appeal on a point of law in the context of section 204(3):- ‘It is that ‘a point of law’ includes not only matters of legal interpretation but also the full range of issues which would otherwise be the subject of an application to the High Court for judicial review, such as procedural error and questions of vires, to which I add, also of irrationality and (in) adequacy of reasons. This broad construction of the provision is supported by the somewhat wider or more immediate power to vary given to the county court by section 204(3) than the High Court normally exercises in its judicial review jurisdiction.’

Auld, Stuart-Smith, Sedley LJJ
Gazette 17-Nov-1999, Times 09-Nov-1999, [2000] 1 WLR 306, [1999] EWCA Civ 3051, [2000] COD 31, (2000) 32 HLR 445
Bailii
Housing Act 1985 175 (1) 175(3) 204(3)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v London Borough of Camden ex parte Pereira CA 20-May-1998
When considering whether a person was vulnerable so as to be treated more favourably in applying for rehousing: ‘The Council should consider such application afresh applying the statutory criterion: The Ortiz test should not be used; the dictum of . .

Cited by:
Cited – Harouki v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea CA 17-Oct-2007
The applicant sought housing as a homeles person. Her present accommodation for herself, her husband and five children was so overcrowded that continued occupation was a criminal offence. She appealed a finding that it was reasonable to continue . .
Cited – London Borough of Wandsworth v Allison CA 15-Apr-2008
The claimant had applied for emergency housing, saying that he had suffered a deep vein thrombosis, and was vulnerable under the 1996 Act. The authority said that its finding that the VT would not put him at additional risk if homeless, was one of . .
Cited – Waltham Forest v Maloba, The Law Society CA 4-Dec-2007
The applicant had been refused accomodation as homeless after disclosing the ownership of a family home in Uganda. He had lived and worked in the UK for 15 years. The authority did not accept that it had later been repossessed. The council now . .
Cited – Hotak and Others v London Borough of Southwark and Another SC 13-May-2015
The court was asked as to the duty of local housing authorities towards homeless people who claim to be ‘vulnerable’, and therefore to have ‘a priority need’ for the provision of housing accommodation under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996. Those . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing, Litigation Practice

Leading Case

Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.78321

Nemcova v Fairfield Rents Ltd: UTLC 6 Sep 2016

Holiday lets were in breach of covenant

UTLC LANDLORD AND TENANT – BREACH OF COVENANT – long residential lease – application under section 168(2), Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2003 – covenant not to use premises for any purpose other than as a private residence – whether broken when tenant advertised and granted short-term lettings – appeal dismissed

[2016] UKUT 303 (LC)
Bailii
Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2003 &168(2)
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Fairfield Rents Limited v Nemcova (London) FTTPC 26-Aug-2015
Application Under Section 168, of The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 . .

Cited by:
Cited – Triplerose Ltd v Beattie and Another UTLC 4-Jun-2020
Short term visitor sublets were breach of lease
Landlord and Tenant – Breach of Covenant – covenant against use of flat other than as a private dwelling house and prohibiting use for trade or business – whether breached by use of flat as serviced apartment advertised on internet booking sites – . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing, Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.569592

London Borough of Islington v The Unite Group Plc: Admn 22 Mar 2013

The Council sought a declaration that certain accomodation provided by the defendant constituted housing in multiple accomodation (HMO), and that it therefore required a licence from the Council under the 2004 Act. There were two storeys of business accomodation, and one of residential. The parties disputed whether, in counting the number of storeys in the building, the basement and attic were to be included.
Held: The application was dismissed. In all respects other than business premises the search was for storeys comprised within the HMO itself, rather than the building in which it was located; it was the HMO which was in issue, and not the building itself, and ‘It is the HMO that must comprise the three storeys and not the building in which an HMO happens to be found.’
The court should ‘strive to avoid a construction which penalises a person where the legislator’s intention to do is doubtful, or penalises him or her in a way which was not made clear’.

Blake J
[2013] EWHC 508 (Admin)
Bailii
Housing Act 2004
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Bristol City Council v Digs (Bristol) Ltd Admn 27-Mar-2014
The council appealed against rejection of its complaint that the defendant had used their maisonette as a house in in multiple occupation without first obtaining the licence required. The parties had disputed whether two maisonettes amounted to more . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing

Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.471962

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 Part VII of the 1996 Act, and (ii) whether a public authority, which evicts such a person when its statutory duty to provide such interim accommodation ceases without first obtaining a court order for possession, violates that person’s rights under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Held: The authority was not required to obtain a court order before evicting the claimants if, after making inquiries, it then decided that the claimants were not entitled to local authority accommodation.
‘(i) the words ‘live at’, ‘reside’ and ‘dwell’ are ordinary words of the English language and do not have technical meanings, (ii) those words must be interpreted in the statutes in which they appear having regard to the purpose of those enactments, (iii) as a matter of nuance, ‘dwelling’ as a general rule suggests a more settled occupation than ‘residence’ and can be equated with one’s home, although ‘residence’ itself can in certain contexts (such as the two-home cases) require such an equation, and (iv) under the 1996 Act a person remains homeless while he or she occupies temporary accommodation provided under sections 188(3), 190(2), 200(1) or 204(4) of the 1996 Act so long as the occupation is properly referable to the authority’s performance or exercise of those statutory duties or powers.’

Lord Neuberger, President, Lady Hale, Deputy President, Lord Clarke, Lord Wilson, Lord Carnwath, Lord Toulson, Lord Hodge
[2014] WLR(D) 489, [2015] 1 AC 1259, [2014] UKSC 62, [2014] 3 WLR 1548, UKSC 2013/0194, [2014] BLGR 842, [2015] 1 All ER 783, [2015] HLR 6
Bailii, WLRD, Bailii Summary, SC Video, SC, SC Summary
Protection from Eviction Act 1977, European Convention on Human Rights, Housing Act 1996
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – CN, Regina (on The Application of) v London Borough of Lewisham CA 11-Jul-2013
The claimants had applied for housing as homeless. They were given accommodation pending the authority’s final decisions. Those decisions were thet the claimants were homeless intentionally. The authoity’s set out to recover possession. The . .
Appeal from – ZH, Regina (on The Application of) v London Borough of Newham CA 11-Jul-2013
The claimant had applied for housing as a homeless person and was found temporary accomodation pending the respondent’s decision. When eventually the decision went against the claimant, the claimant argued that the authority was obliged to recover . .
Cited – Wolfe v Hogan CA 1949
An issue arose as to the purpose of the original letting. The defendant was the sub-tenant of a large divided room on the ground floor of a house in Chelsea which she used for business purposes. She eventually decided to live there as well.
Cited – Rogerson v Wigan Metropolican Borough Council QBD 14-Jul-2004
The claimant sought damages under the 1977 Act. The defendant said it had behaved lawfully. He had been housed in a hostel pending a decision on the application for permanent housing as a homeless person, which the defendant said excluded him from . .
Cited – Martin Estates Ltd v Watt and Hunter CANI 1925
Barracks were leased for police purposes to a receiver for the Royal Ulster Constabulary. On expiry the landlord moved for possession. The tenant resisted, citing legislation enacted to protect tenants of houses from disturbance in their occupation. . .
Cited – Skinner v Geary CA 1931
Scrutton LJ said that the Rent Acts did not protect a tenant who was not in occupation of a house in the sense that the house was his home. . .
Cited – Levermore v Jobey CA 1956
Danckwerts LJ said: ‘A lease is not intended to be either a mental exercise or an essay in literature: it is a practical document dealing with a practical situation.’ . .
Cited – Uratemp Ventures Limited v Collins HL 11-Oct-2001
Can a single room within a hotel comprise a separate dwelling within the 1988 Act and be subject to an assured tenancy?
Held: A single room can be a dwelling. Each case must be interpreted in its own light as a question of fact, but respecting . .
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 – Collier v Stoneman CA 1957
A grandchild and his wife shared a 2-bedroom flat with the grandmother tenant. There was communal living and eating and no question of a sub-tenancy.
Held: The claim to succession to the tenancy was upheld.
Sellers LJ said: ‘The . .
Cited – Walker v Ogilvy CA 1974
A tenant of a flat which he used principally at weekends and for short holidays. The tenant had another permanent residence.
Held: Parliament in passing the Rent Act 1968 never intended to protect people in occupation of what were in effect . .
Cited – Regalian Securities Ltd v Scheuer CA 1982
The court considered the right of a protected tenant to become a statutory tenant on the termination of his protected tenancy under section 2(1)(a) of the 1977 Act, requiring him to occupy the dwelling house ‘as his residence’. The tenant occupied . .
Cited – Swanbrae Ltd v Elliott CA 1986
The court considered the quality of residence required where a person claimed to be a statutory tenant in succession to her mother, who had been a protected tenant, because she had resided in the premises with her before she died. The appellant had . .
Cited – MacMillan and Co Ltd v Rees CA 1946
The lease of premises as an office allowed the tenant or her business partner were authorised to sleep when required.
Held: The Court drew a distinction between an authorised user of merely sleeping or eating on premises and use as a dwelling . .
Cited – Mohamed v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council HL 1-Nov-2001
Mrs M came to England in 1994 living first in Ealing and then Hammersmith. Mr M came later and lived elsewhere in Hammersmith. Hammersmith gave them jointly temporary accommodation, first in a hotel and then in a flat. They then applied under . .
Cited – Desnousse v London Borough of Newham and others CA 17-May-2006
The occupier had been granted a temporary licence by the authority under the homelessness provisions whilst it made its assessment. The assessment concluded that she had become homeless intentionally, and therefore terminated the licence and set out . .
Cited – Freeman v London Borough of Islington CA 11-Jun-2009
A claim was made for a statutory succession to an assured tenancy. The judge had found that the appellant was occupying the flat at the time of the death of her father (the tenant) as her only home, but that she had not ‘resided with’ him throughout . .
Cited – London Borough of Hounslow v Powell, Leeds City Council v Hall etc SC 23-Feb-2011
In each case the tenant occupied the property as his home, but was not a secure tenant of the local authority. The Court was asked whether, in granting a possession order in such a case, the court was obliged to consider the proportionality of the . .
Cited – Zehentner v Austria ECHR 16-Jul-2009
ECHR The applicant’s apartment was subject to a judicial sale for non-payment of debt. She was ill, and did not participate in the sale. The local law had time limits for challenging a judicial sale, designed to . .
Cited – Tysiac v Poland ECHR 20-Mar-2007
The applicant alleged that the circumstances of her case had given rise to violations of Article 8 of the Convention. She also relied on Article 3. The applicant further complained under Article 13 that she did not have an effective remedy at her . .
Cited – Prokopovich v Russia ECHR 18-Nov-2004
ECHR Judgment (Merits and Just Satisfaction) – Preliminary objection rejected (estoppel); Violation of Art. 8; Pecuniary damage – claim rejected; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award; Costs and expenses partial . .
Cited – Blecic v Croatia ECHR 29-Jul-2004
The applicant had for many years before 1992 had a protected tenancy of a publicly-owned flat in Zadar. Under Croatian law a specially-protected tenancy might be terminated if the tenant ceased to occupy the flat for a continuous period of six . .
Cited – Barras v Aberdeen Steam Trawling and Fishing Co HL 17-Mar-1933
The court looked at the inference that a statute’s draughtsman could be assumed when using a phrase to rely on a known interpretation of that phrase.
Viscount Buckmaster said: ‘It has long been a well established principle to be applied in the . .
Cited – Smart v The London Borough of Lambeth CA 7-Nov-2013
A local authority granted a licence to a housing association which in turn allowed a housing cooperative to provide accommodation to former squatters on a licence which was initially for 5 years but was extended. A claim was made for adverse . .

Cited by:
Cited – Sims v Dacorum Borough Council SC 12-Nov-2014
Surrender at Common Law Survives Human Rights Law
The tenants held a secure weekly tenancy of the respondent under a joint tenancy. After a relationship breakdown, Mrs Sims had given notice to quit. Mr Sims, left in possession now argued that the common law rules should not be allowed to deprive . .
Cited – Haile v London Borough of Waltham Forest SC 20-May-2015
‘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, . .
Cited – Belhaj and Another v Director of Public Prosecutions and Another SC 4-Jul-2018
Challenge to decision not to prosecute senior Intelligence Service officials for alleged offences in connection with his unlawful rendition and mistreatment in Libya. The issue here was whether on the hearing of the application for judicial review, . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing, Human Rights

Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.538699

Cocks v Thanet District Council: HL 25 Nov 1981

The applicant had been given temporary accomodation under the Act. He sought to enforce the obligation on the respondent to house him permanently by an action in the county court. The authority said the action should have been by judicial review.
Held: Where the action impugned the authority’s performance of its statutory duties as a pre-condition to enforcing private law rights, the correct way was to do so within judicial review proceedings. The authority’s decision could not be challenged by an ordinary action. The House attached particular importance to the protection given to public authorities by Order 53 of the Rules of the Supreme Court to the extent that leave to bring proceedings was required and a time limit imposed subject to good reason for extending it.

Lord Bridge
[1983] 2 AC 286, [1982] 3 WLR 1121, [1982] 3 All ER 1135, [1981] UKHL 10
Bailii
Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977
England and Wales
Citing:
Applied – O’Reilly v Mackman HL 1982
Remission of Sentence is a Privilege not a Right
The plaintiffs had begun their action, to challenge their loss of remission as prisoners, by means of a writ, rather than by an action for judicial review, and so had sidestepped the requirement for the action to be brought within strict time . .

Cited by:
Applied – O’Rourke v Mayor etc of the London Borough of Camden HL 12-Jun-1997
The claimant had been released from prison and sought to be housed as a homeless person. He said that his imprisonment brought him within the category of having special need. He also claimed damages for the breach.
Held: The Act was intended . .
Cited – Steed v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 26-May-2000
The claimant surrendered guns and ammunition under the 1997 Act, and was due to be compensated. His claim was not settled, and he commenced an action in the County Court for the sums claimed. The defendant denied any duty to pay up within a . .
Cited – Mohamed v Manek and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea CA 28-Apr-1995
The claimant applied to the Council for accommodation, claiming to be homeless and in priority need. The council housed him in a hotel owned by Mr Manek in Tooting Bec . He had a room, a separate bathroom and lavatory, and shared use of a kitchen. . .
Cited – Hussain v Mehlman CC 5-Mar-1992
(County Court) The defendant landlord granted the plaintiff a three year assured shorthold tenancy. He now appealed a finding that he was in breach of an implied covenant to maintain the space heating, and otherwise. The tenant had returned the . .
Cited – Ruddy v Chief Constable, Strathclyde Police and Another SC 28-Nov-2012
The pursuer said that he had been assaulted whilst in the custody of the responder’s officers. He began civil actions after his complaint was rejected. He repeated the allegation of the assault, and complained also as to the conduct of the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing, Judicial Review

Leading Case

Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.180465

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 to decide whether that test has to be satisfied. The applicant could not point to any new circumstance, which could lead to the conclusion that she was not intentionally homeless and it was releived of any obligation to repeat the whole process of considering the fresh application.
Held: ”I have sympathy with Harrow’s case on this point but I am unable to extract from the statutory language any sufficient justification for the suggested short cut.’ ‘the statutory duty to make enquiries arises if (a) a person applies for accommodation (b) ‘the authority have reason to believe he may be homeless or threatened with homelessness’. It is established that requirement (a) is not satisfied if an application purports to be made by a person who lacks the capacity to do so . . Moreover when an applicant has been given temporary accommodation . . . and is then found to be intentionally homeless he cannot make a further application based on exactly the same facts as his earlier application’. A local authority Council had found intentional homelessness but where an appeal was pending had to consider fully again, the situation which arose on applicant being evicted again from temporary accommodation provided pending the appeal. As to Delahaye: ‘but those are very special cases where it is possible to say there is no application before the local authority and therefore the mandatory duty imposed by [the statutory predecessor to section 184] has not arisen. But in the present case there is no doubt that where [the homeless applicant] made her further application for accommodation she was threatened with homelessness. Moreover in my judgment her application could not be treated as identical with the earlier 1994 application. She was relying on her eviction from the guesthouse which, for one year, she had been occupying as the direct licensee of the guesthouse proprietor, paying the rate for that accommodation. She was reimbursed the amount of the rent by way of housing benefit but the fact was that she had occupied the premises as licensee for a year. It is impossible to say that there has been no relevant change in circumstances at all.’

Lord Browne-Wilkinson, Lord Mustill, Lord Nolan, Lord Clyde, Lord Hutton
Times 24-Jul-1998, Gazette 16-Sep-1998, [1998] 4 All ER 137, [1998] UKHL 29, [1998] 1 WLR 1396
House of Lords, Bailii
Housing Act 1985 Part III
Citing:
Appeal from – 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 – Delahaye v Oswestry Borough Council 29-Jul-1980
The applicant had made more than one application for emergency housing and temporary accomodation pending the result of her application.
Held: It could not have been the intention of Parliament that a similar statute should be used by someone, . .
At First Instance – 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 by:
Cited – Regina (Fatima Jeylani) v London Borough of Waltham Forest 2002
A declaration was granted requiring the local authority to consider the further homelessness application after the authority had followed the approach in Campisi and in consequence, it had refused to consider a further homelessness application of . .
Cited – Haile v London Borough of Waltham Forest SC 20-May-2015
‘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, . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing

Leading Case

Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.86819

Rother District Council v Freeman-Roach: CA 6 Mar 2018

Onus on Housing claimant to show review error

The claimant had been found to be homeless and in priority need. He was given interim housing pending their decision. They later considered that he was in fact not in priority need. He appealed to the County Court for an order that interim accomodation be continued pending completion of the review, that having been refused by the review officer.
Held: The Council’s appeal succeeded. It was for the claimant to establish the error made in the review, not for the Council to establish that the correct test had been applied.

Longmore, Lewison LJJ, Rose J
[2018] EWCA Civ 368, [2018] WLR(D) 145
Bailii, WLRD
Housing Act 1996
England and Wales

Housing

Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.605788

Royal Borough of Greenwich v Tuitt: CA 25 Nov 2014

The Defendant appealed against the order for possession made against her in respect of her secure tenancy of a flat, made on the grounds that her son, now 18 years old and living with her and her partner, had committed repeated acts of nuisance and annoyance to neighbouring residents and had been convicted of an indictable offence committed in the locality. The Defendant contented that a consideration of the lack of allegations of nuisance directed at the Defendant was omitted from the judgment.
Held: The appeal failed.
Vos LJ said: ‘the question of reasonableness focuses, as section 85A requires, on the effect of the nuisance and annoyance on others, not on the direct responsibility for the nuisance and annoyance. The judge must, however, take account of all relevant circumstances in a broad, common-sense way. Such circumstances will, even in relation to reasonableness, include, in a general way, the responsibility of the tenant for the nuisance. One reason for that in this case is that ground 1 relates specifically to contractual breaches of the tenancy agreement.’ The judge had, however satisfied these requirements.
The Defendant had not said that she would exclude her son if his behaviour persisted, but was instead in denial.

Vos, Treacy, McCombe LJJ
[2014] EWCA Civ 1669
Bailii
Housing Act 1985 84 85A
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Newcastle City Council v Morrison CA 2000
The court reviewed the principles applicable when asking whether it is reasonable to make an order for possession against a tenant on grounds of nuisance: a) When considering reasonableness, the Judge must take account of all relevant circumstances . .
Cited – Portsmouth City Council v Bryant CA 2000
It may be unreasonable to impose a possession order against a person in respect of a failing over which they have no control.
Simon Brown LJ said, having reviewed the existing authorities: ‘Those authorities clearly hold that no personal fault . .
Cited – Knowsley Housing Trust v McMullen CA 9-May-2006
The defendant tenant appealed an order for possession of her flat. She was disabled and living with her 19 year old son. He had been made subject to an anti-social behaviour order. The court had found that she could have required him to leave. The . .
Cited – Birmingham City Council v Ashton CA 29-Nov-2012
The council challenged a decision as to their claim for possession of a ground floor flat where the court granted a possession order but suspended possession on terms that the Respondent (1) complied with his tenancy agreement and (2) obeyed the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.540486

Curl v Angelo: CA 1948

Two rooms were let to the proprietor of an adjoining hotel as additional accommodation for the hotel. They were used mainly for guests but occasionally for the hotel tenant’s family or staff. One such claimed security of tenure.
Held: The claim failed. The room was not let as a dwelling: ‘the real fundamental object of the Act’ was in ‘protecting a tenant from being turned out of his home.’ The tenant’s claim for protection was rejected on the ground that the premises were not a dwelling. They were not ‘the home of anybody; they were a mere annexe or overflow of the hotel.’ However, a single room may be a dwelling-house.
Lord Greene MR said: ‘It must not be thought for a moment that I am throwing any doubt on the proposition that where there is a letting to a man of one room which is the only place where he moves and has his being, that circumstance will prevent the room being a ‘dwelling’ within the meaning of the Act, but here one has the activities connected with the dwelling of all these people divided between two tenements. Their main activities of living are conducted in the hotel. They go out to sleep in these rooms – sometimes the guests, sometimes the servants, and so on. Where is the ‘dwelling’? It seems to me clear that this annexe or accretion to the accommodation of the hotel cannot be regarded as a ‘dwelling,’ much less as a ‘separate dwelling.”

Lord Greene MR
[1948] 2 All ER 189
Rent Restriction Act
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Uratemp Ventures Limited v Collins HL 11-Oct-2001
Can a single room within a hotel comprise a separate dwelling within the 1988 Act and be subject to an assured tenancy?
Held: A single room can be a dwelling. Each case must be interpreted in its own light as a question of fact, but respecting . .
Cited – A G Securities v Vaughan; Antoniades v Villiers and Bridger HL 10-Nov-1988
In Antoniades, the two tenants occupied an attic, living together. Each had at the same time signed identical agreements purporting to create licences. The landlord had reserved to himself the right to occupy the property and to allow others to . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing

Leading Case

Updated: 31 October 2021; Ref: scu.181201

Dyson Holdings Ltd v Fox: CA 17 Oct 1975

The defendant had lived with the tenant for 21 years until his death. They were unmarried and had no children. Reversing the County Court judge, the Court of Appeal ruled that she was a member of his family. It was absurd to distinguish between two couples on the basis that one had children and the other did not. (Lord Denning) and ‘The popular meaning given to the word ‘family’ is not fixed once and for all time. I have no doubt that with the passage of years it has changed. The cases reveal that it is not restricted to blood relationships and those created by the marriage ceremony. It can include de facto as well as de jure relationships. The popular meaning of ‘family’ in 1975 would, according to the answer of the ordinary man, include the defendant as a member of Mr. Wright’s family. This is not to say that every mistress should be so regarded. Relationships of a casual or intermittent character and those bearing indications of impermanence would not come within the popular concept of a family unit.’ per James LJ, and ‘Now, it is, I think, not putting it too high to say that between 1950 and 1975 there has been a complete revolution in society’s attitude to unmarried partnerships of the kind under consideration. Such unions are far commoner than they used to be. The social stigma that once attached to them has almost, if not entirely, disappeared. The inaccurate but expressive phrases ‘common law wife’ and ‘common law husband’ have come into general use to describe them. The ordinary man in 1975 would, in my opinion, certainly say that the parties to such a union, provided it had the appropriate degree of apparent permanence and stability, were members of a single family whether they had children or not.’ (Bridge LJ)

Lord Denning MR, James LJ, Bridge LJ
[1976] QB 503, [1975] EWCA Civ 8
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Disapproved – Gammans v Ekins CA 1950
The plaintiff had lived with a woman tenant for over 20 years and they had been regarded in the neighbourhood as man and wife.
Held: He could not thereby be deemed a member of her family for the Act of 1920. If their relationship was sexual . .

Cited by:
Confined to its facts – Helby v Rafferty CA 1979
The court declined to hold that a man who had lived with a woman tenant for five years before her death were part of the same family because they had deliberately opted to retain their formal independence and they had not been recognised as being . .
Confined to its facts – Watson v Lucas CA 1980
A woman who had lived with a man, although he remained married to his wife, was a member of his family for the purpose of Schedule 1 to the Act of 1977 because of the lasting relationship between them. . .
Cited – Carega Properties SA (formerly Joram Developments Ltd) v Sharratt HL 1979
A widow aged 75 had developed a platonic relationship with a young man aged 24. He lived in her flat for nearly 20 years until she died. They treated themselves as aunt and nephew. The trial judge held that through their relationship this elderly . .
Cited – Fitzpatrick v Sterling Housing Association Ltd HL 28-Oct-1999
Same Sex Paartner to Inherit as Family Member
The claimant had lived with the original tenant in a stable and long standing homosexual relationship at the deceased’s flat. After the tenant’s death he sought a statutory tenancy as a spouse of the deceased. The Act had been extended to include as . .
Cited – Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v M HL 8-Mar-2006
The respondent’s child lived with the estranged father for most of each week. She was obliged to contribute child support. She now lived with a woman, and complained that because her relationship was homosexual, she had been asked to pay more than . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Family, Housing

Leading Case

Updated: 31 October 2021; Ref: scu.215911

Runa Begum v London Borough of Tower Hamlets (First Secretary of State intervening): HL 13 Feb 2003

The appellant challenged the procedure for reviewing a decision made as to the suitability of accomodation offered to her after the respondent had accepted her as being homeless. The procedure involved a review by an officer of the council, with an appeal to the County Court on a point of law.
Held: The decision was one which did engage the applicant’s human rights. The officer was not an independent tribunal, but his decision was of the nature recognised in the jurisprudence as administrative, being areas of law considered regulatory and welfare schemes in which decision making was by custom delegated to administrative officers, and such decisions typically did not give rise to a right of appeal on the facts. The appeal on law was adequate.

Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Millett, Lord Walker
[2003] UKHL 5, [2003] 1 All ER 739, Gazette 03-Apr-2003, [2003] 2 WLR 388, [2003] 2 AC 430, [2003] ACD 41, [2003] NPC 21, [2003] HRLR 16, [2003] HLR 32, [2003] UKHRR 419, [2003] BLGR 205, 14 BHRC 400, [2003] Hous LR 20
House of Lords, Bailii, Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 6.1, Housing Act 1996 204, Local Authorities (Contracting Out of Allocation of Housing and Homelessness Functions) Order 1996 (1996 No 3205, Allocation of Homelessness Functions (review Procedures) Regulations 1999 (1999 No 71)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Bryan v The United Kingdom ECHR 22-Nov-1995
Bryan was a farmer at Warrington in Cheshire. He built two brick buildings on land in a conservation area without planning permission and the planning authority served an enforcement notice for their demolition. He appealed on grounds (a) (that . .
Appeal from – London Borough of Tower Hamlets v Runa Begum CA 6-Mar-2002
The applicant had applied for rehousing as a homeless person. She was offered interim accommodation but refused it. Her case was reviewed, and her reasons rejected. She claimed the procedure was unfair, in that the authority was looking at decisions . .
Cited – Regina (Holding and Barnes plc) v Secretary of State for Environment Transport and the Regions; Regina (Alconbury Developments Ltd and Others) v Same and Others HL 9-May-2001
Power to call in is administrative in nature
The powers of the Secretary of State to call in a planning application for his decision, and certain other planning powers, were essentially an administrative power, and not a judicial one, and therefore it was not a breach of the applicants’ rights . .
Cited – London Borough of Newham v Adan CA 14-Dec-2001
The applicant was a Dutch national. She appealed for housing as a homeless person. The local authority, after review found her not to have a settled intention to stay in England. She appealed, to the County Court, and succeeded, and the Authority . .
Cited – Kingsley v The United Kingdom (No 2) ECHR 28-May-2002
The finding that a party had been denied a fair trial may of itself be sufficient compensation. The applicant had been excluded from management of licensed casinos. The appeal board had been found to have given the appearance of bias against him. . .
Cited – The Secretary of State for Health, Dorset County Council v The Personal Representative of Christopher Beeson CA 18-Dec-2002
The deceased had been adjudged by his local authority to have deprived himself of his house under the Regulations. Complaint was made that the procedure did not allow an appeal and therefore deprived him of his rights under article 6.
Held: . .
Cited – Kaplan v United Kingdom ECHR 14-Dec-1978
(Admissibility) The Secretary of State had, after preliminary procedures, served notices on an insurance company disallowing it from writing any new business, because its managing director the applicant, had been found not to be a fit and proper . .

Cited by:
Cited – Dyson Limited v The Registrar of Trade Marks ChD 15-May-2003
Applications for trade marks on behalf of the claimant had been rejected. Acquired distinctiveness was a significant issue, and the question of whether the appeal was a review or a rehearing was significant. In this appeal, the parties had given . .
Cited – London Borough of Harrow v Qazi HL 31-Jul-2003
The applicant had held a joint tenancy of the respondent. His partner gave notice and left, and the property was taken into possession. The claimant claimed restoration of his tenancy saying the order did not respect his right to a private life and . .
Cited – Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Kehoe CA 5-Mar-2004
The claimant had applied to the Child Support Agncy for maintenance. They failed utterly to obtain payment, and she complained now that she was denied the opportunity by the 1991 Act to take court proceedings herself.
Held: The denial of . .
Cited – Independent Assessor v O’Brien, Hickey, Hickey CA 29-Jul-2004
The claimants had been imprisoned for many years before their convictions were quashed. They claimed compensation under the Act. The assessor said that there should be deducted from the award the living expenses they would have incurred if they had . .
Cited – Feld, Lord Mayor and Citizens of the City of Westminster v London Borough of Barnet, Lord Mayor and Citizens of the City of Westminster CA 18-Oct-2004
The applicants sought housing as homeless people. After the refusal of their applications, they sought a review, and in due course a second review. That second review was conducted by the same officer who had conducted the first. The appellant . .
Cited – Hall v London Borough of Wandsworth CA 17-Dec-2004
The applicants appealed refusal of their applications for housing having priority housing need being vulnerable because of their mental illness. They said that the original decisions had been reviewed, and that on review deficiencies had been . .
Cited – Kehoe, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions HL 14-Jul-2005
The applicant contended that the 1991 Act infringed her human rights in denying her access to court to obtain maintenance for her children.
Held: The applicant had no substantive right to take part in the enforcement process in domestic law . .
Cited – Cramp v Hastings Borough Council CA 29-Jul-2005
Cases challenged successful appeals by applicants for housing for homelessness, where a county court had ordered a second review of the application. . .
Cited – Hammond, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 1-Dec-2005
The claimants had been convicted of murder, but their tariffs had not yet been set when the 2003 Act came into effect. They said that the procedure under which their sentence tarriffs were set were not compliant with their human rights in that the . .
Cited – MB, Re, Secretary of State for the Home Department v MB Admn 12-Apr-2006
The applicant challenged the terms of a non-derogating control order. It was anticipated that unless prevented, he would fight against UK forces in Iraq.
Held: The section allowed the Secretary of State to impose any necessary conditions, but . .
Cited – Malik, Regina (on the Application of) v Waltham Forest PCT and Secretary of State for Health Admn 17-Mar-2006
The doctor had been suspended on full pay whilst allegations against him were investigated. He claimed that the suspension infringed his human rights and that his licence to practice was a possession.
Held: At the disciplinary proceedings: . .
Cited – Desnousse v London Borough of Newham and others CA 17-May-2006
The occupier had been granted a temporary licence by the authority under the homelessness provisions whilst it made its assessment. The assessment concluded that she had become homeless intentionally, and therefore terminated the licence and set out . .
Cited – F v Birmingham City Council CA 2-Nov-2006
The applicant sought housing as a homeless person with her children. The authority found her in priority need, but intentionally homeless. Her appeal against the adverse review failed, and she appealed again. She had given up a council flat and had . .
Cited – Ali v Birmingham City Council CA 7-Nov-2008
The Council said that it had discharged its duty to house the claimants after they had refused an offer of accommodation, and that decision had been reviewed. The claimant denied receiving a notice under the procedure. The court was asked whether . .
Cited – Wright and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Health and Another HL 21-Jan-2009
The claimants had been provisionally listed as ‘people considered unsuitable to work with vulnerable adults’ which meant that they could no longer work, but they said they were given no effective and speedy opportunity to object to the listing. . .
Cited – Heald and Others v London Borough of Brent CA 20-Aug-2009
The court considered whether it was lawful for a local authority to outsource the decision making on homelessness reviews. The appellants said that it could not be contracted out, and that the agent employed lacked the necessary independence and was . .
Cited – A, Regina (on the Application of) v London Borough of Croydon SC 26-Nov-2009
The applicants sought asylum, and, saying that they were children under eighteen, sought also the assistance of the local authority. Social workers judged them to be over eighteen and assistance was declined.
Held: The claimants’ appeals . .
Cited – G, Regina (on The Application of) v X School and Others CA 20-Jan-2010
The claimant was a teaching assistant. A complaint had been made that he had kissed a boy having work experience at the school, but it had been decided that no criminal prosecution would follow. He sought judicial review of the school’s decision to . .
Cited – Tomlinson and Others v Birmingham City Council SC 17-Feb-2010
The appellant asked whether the statutory review of a housing authority’s decision on whether he was intentionally homeless was a determination of a civil right, and if so whether the review was of the appropriate standard. The claimant said that . .
Cited – Cart, Regina (on The Application of) v The Upper Tribunal and Others CA 23-Jul-2010
The claimant had sought and been refused judicial review of a decision of the SIAC Upper Tribunal. The Upper Tribunals were designated as courts of superior record, and the court at first instance had said that SIACs specialist procedures and . .
Cited – Bubb v London Borough of Wandsworth CA 9-Nov-2011
The appellant had sought housing assistance. She had been offered accomodation but refused it as unreasonable. The authority declined further assistance. She now appealed against the refusal of the county court judge to set aside the decision . .
Cited – Bubb v London Borough of Wandsworth CA 9-Nov-2011
The appellant had sought housing assistance. She had been offered accomodation but refused it as unreasonable. The authority declined further assistance. She now appealed against the refusal of the county court judge to set aside the decision . .
Cited – King, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice CA 27-Mar-2012
In each case the prisoners challenged their transfer to cellular confinement or segregation within prison or YOI, saying that the transfers infringed their rights under Article 6, saying that domestic law, either in itself or in conjunction with . .
Cited – Hotak and Others v London Borough of Southwark and Another SC 13-May-2015
The court was asked as to the duty of local housing authorities towards homeless people who claim to be ‘vulnerable’, and therefore to have ‘a priority need’ for the provision of housing accommodation under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996. Those . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing, Human Rights, Administrative, Local Government

Leading Case

Updated: 31 October 2021; Ref: scu.179047

Nottingham City Council v Dominic Parr Trevor Parr Associates Ltd: CA 29 Mar 2017

The court considered the extent of the power to impose conditions in licences of houses in multiple occupation. The FTT found that the conditions attached to the licences were incorrect and had substituted its own.
Held: The personal characteristics of the occupier did have some relevance, for example in imposing a requirement for references.
Longmore, Lewison, Briggs LJJ
[2017] EWCA Civ 188, [2017] WLR(D) 222, [2017] PTSR 879
Bailii, WLRD
Housing Act 2004 61, Licensing and Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation and Other Houses (Miscellaneous Provisions) (England) Regulations 2006 3
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Nottingham City Council v Parr and Another SC 10-Oct-2018
The Council appealed from refusal of conditions it had attached on licensing houses wit multiple accommodation.
Held: The power to impose conditions under sections 64 and 67, Housing Act 2004, in order to make an HMO suitable for a particular . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 27 September 2021; Ref: scu.581297

Dayani v London Borough of Bromley: TCC 25 Nov 1999

LA Tenant liable for permissive waste

The local authority was tenant of properties which it sub-licensed to homeless persons for three years was liable for having allowed the properties to deteriorate. It was claimed that they were liable for permissive waste as tenants for a fixed period, even though the statute and cases were extremely old.
Held: Interpretation of statutes given relatively soon after the inception of a statute and relied upon over centuries should be set aside only with caution. After a very extensive review of ancient statute and case law, the court noted that a tenant for life and a tenant for years were liable in damages for permissive waste for about 600 years from 1267. A tenant for years can be liable for permissive waste.
Richard Havery QC HHJ
Gazette 25-Nov-1999, (1996) ORB 1077, [1999] EWHC Technology 186
Bailii
Statute of Marborough 1267, Statute of Gloucester 1278, Statute of Westminster 1285 c.14
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Harnett v Maitland 1847
The court was asked whether a tenant for years was liable for permissive waste.
Held: ‘As to the question, whether the action for permissive waste lies against a tenant for years, all the authorities are collected in the notes to Greene v. . .
Cited – Yellowly v Gower CEC 1855
A tenant for years was liable for permissive waste: A doubt has been stated indeed in a note to 2 Saund. 252b, whether a tenant for years is liable for permissive waste . . .These doubts arise from three cases in the Common Pleas: Gibson v. Wells 1 . .
Cited – Herne v Bembow 1813
The premises were demised by the plaintiff to the defendant by lease. It was an action on the case in the nature of waste.
Held: ‘Case for permissive waste does not lie against a tenant by lease, who has not covenanted to repair’. . .
Cited – Davies v Davies 1888
A tenant for years was liable for permissive waste: ‘Actual waste, that is to say, waste committed by him, would of course render him liable to eviction; but it is said that that does not apply to a case of this kind – that a lessee for years is not . .
Cited – Countess of Shrewsbury’s Case 1600
A tenant at will is not liable for permissive waste where confidence has not been reposed in him. . .
Cited – 21 E.1 Adam’s Case 1293
(Year Books) If the sheriff hold the inquest and return that the grange and bakehouse were burned by accident, and do not say whether the conflagration was caused by the default of the tenant or not, the sheriff will be again ordered to enquire . .
Cited – 29 E3.33 1355
(Year Books) In waste for a chamber demolished and sold Gower says that at the time of the making of the lease it was very weak and so it collapsed through a storm and we did not demolish it nor did it collapse by our fault. And this was held a good . .
Cited – 42 E.3.21 1368
(Year Books) The prior of the Hospital of St John brought a writ of waste against one J. and alleged that he had committed waste in certain tenements which he held for the term of his life by the lease of his predecessor, namely in respect of a . .
Cited – Jones v Hill CCP 1817
The lessor granted a lease and covenanted to cause the alterations and improvements then going on under the direction of J.M., and the lessee covenanted to repair the premises and to yield them up in as good plight and condition as they should be in . .
Cited – 12 H.4.5 1410
(Year Books) The abbot of Sherborne brought a writ of waste against two husbands and their wives and when the grand distress was returned one husband and wife defaulted and the other husband and wife appeared.
Skrene . . if I lease buildings . .
Cited – Gibson v Wells 1806
This was an action on the case in the nature of waste. The first count alleged that the defendant was a tenant for a certain term and had committed voluntary waste. It was alleged that the defendant was a tenant for a certain term and had committed . .
Cited – 7 H.6.38 1429
Waste was brought against one and waste was assigned in respect of a chamber because he had allowed it to fall down for lack of roofing and also in certain cottages, . . .
Newton . . .As for the chamber we tell you that it was unroofed at the . .
Cited – 11. H.6.1 1432
Waste brought against a tenant for term of years for the cutting down of one hundred oaks and allowing the wood to lie unenclosed so that animals have eaten the shoots of the said wood so that they have ceased to grow.
Danby It was not the . .
Cited – Greene v Cole 1670
(Note) With regard to an action for waste: ‘But this action is now very seldom brought, and has given way to a much more expeditious and easy remedy by an action on the case in the nature of waste. The plaintiff derives the same benefit from it, as . .
Cited – 5 E.4 89 1465
A writ of waste was brought and declaration made that the waste had been committed in a messuage, namely in one hall and assigned the waste in a chamber etc. and in a kitchen and assigned the waste in allowing the kitchen to fall down because he did . .
Cited – Newall v Donning 1633
If a lessee permit the walls to be in decay for default of daubing, by which timbers become rotten, an action of waste lies. Decision of Court of King’s Bench in banc on writ of error, and the first judgment affirmed accordingly. . .
Cited – 10 H.7.5a 1494
In the Common Bench a writ of waste was brought and the plaintiff assigned as waste allowing an earthwall to stand uncovered so that it was destroyed by rain-storms; and he also assigned as waste allowing another wall made of wood to decay and also . .
Cited – Weymouth v Gilbert 1632
If a lessee allow a chamber to fall into disrepair through a defect of plastering, by which great timbers become rotten and the chamber becomes foul, there lies an action of waste. Decision of the Court of King’s Bench in banc on writ of error, . .
Cited – 10 H.7.2 1494
Waste brought by an abbot; and he counted how the defendant had committed waste in various things in lands leased to him by his predecessor for a term of years; and assigned as waste . . . the permitting of a certain house to fall . . .
Also . .
Cited – Darcy v Askwith 1617
Limits to Tenant’s Powers as Devisee
‘It is generally true that the lessee has no power to change the nature of the thing demised; he cannot . . decay the pale of a park, for then it ceases to be a park, nor may he drive away the stock . . because it disherits and takes away the . .
Cited – 13. H.7.21 1498
In waste the plaintiff counted of the lease of a mill for term of years and assigned waste committed in the floodgates and other things belonging to the mill. And the defendant said that there had been an agreement out of court between the plaintiff . .
Cited – Anon 1568
Meade, Serjeant, moved this case at the bar: A man made a lease for years by indenture of a messuage and divers lands, with this clause in it, s. that if it happen the lessee to do any waste in and upon the premises, it shall be lawful for the . .
Cited – 12. H.8. 1 1520
(Year Books) One N. brought an action of waste against J., suggesting that he had cut down certain trees etc. And the defendant pleaded that he had committed no waste. Subsequently at nisi prius in the county he gave in evidence that the plaintiff . .
Cited – Anon 2 Mar 1 1554
It was held by the Chief Justice that the erasing of a new frame, which was never covered, is not waste. But it was agreed that if a house be ruinous for default of any covering at the time of the death of the lessor, and afterwards the tenant . .
Cited – Anon 1564
Waste in a marsh was alleged, in that the lessee had allowed a sea wall adjoining the marsh to become ruinous, as a result of which the sea had caused damage to the land. Counsel submitted that the allegation was not good, because the overflowing of . .
Cited – Griffith’s Case 1564
Walter Griffith assigned waste in that the lessee suffered the banks of the River Trent, which flowed through the said lands, to be unrepaired, whereby the water burst the banks and surrounded the lands by default of the lessee. It was held by all . .
Cited – Lord Advocate v Walker Trustees HL 1912
The 1707 Act preserved the traditional offices in Scotland. The respondent held the position of Usher of the White Rod, and claimed his fees from those granted honours by the English parliament.
Held: The Act was clear. The fact that had been . .
Cited – Hebbert v Purchas 1871
Lord Hatherley said: ‘It is quite true that neither contrary practice nor disuse can repeal the positive enactment of a statute, but contemporaneous and continuous usage is of the greatest efficacy in law in determining the true construction of . .
Cited – The Trustees of Clyde Navigation v Laird and Sons HL 1883
The court was asked whether the Clyde Navigation Consolidation Act 1858 required dues to be paid on logs which were chained together and floated down the River Clyde. The evidence was that these dues had been levied and paid without protest for a . .
Cited – Lord Castlemain v Lord Craven 1733
Both voluntary and permissive waste (suffering houses to go out of repair) were alleged against a tenant for life. The relief sought was an account and an injunction. In relation to the permissive waste, the court refused to order an account or an . .
Cited – Powys v Blagrave 24-Mar-1854
Tenant for Life. Permissive Waste
Courts of Equity have no means of interfering in cases of permissive waste by a tenant for life of real property.
There is no implied trust to keep the property in repair imposed upon a tenant for life under a will; for, if there were, he . .
Cited – Re Cartwright; Avis v Newman ChD 1889
Permissive Waste: Tenant for Life / Remainderman
A tenant for life is not liable in damages for permissive waste. ‘Since the Statutes of Marlbridge and of Gloucester there must have been hundreds of thousands of tenants for life who have died leaving their estates in a condition of great . .
Cited – Campbell College, Belfast v Commissioner of Valuation for Northern Ireland HL 1964
The rule of contemporary exposition should be applied only in relation to very old statutes. . .
Cited – Bourne v Keane HL 1919
Gift for Masses not Void for Superstition
An Irish Roman Catholic testator, domiciled in England, bequeathed 200 pounds to Westminster Cathedral for masses, and 200 pounds and his residuary personal Estate to the Jesuit Fathers of Farm Street, again for masses. The next of kin contended . .
Cited – Hammond v Webb 1715
(Serjeant Salkeld in argument) The Statute of Marlborough is a penal law; and yet, because a remedial law, it has been interpreted by equity. That Act says firmarii non faciant vastum; and it has been resolved . . that this Act extended to waste . .
Cited – Wood v Gaynon 2-Mar-1761
The plaintiff sought a decree to compel a life tenant and her husband to put and keep the premises in repair, or the appointment of a receiver with directions to repair the premises. The plaintiff could not sue at law because a party who shared the . .
Cited – Lord Bernard’s Case 1716
The Lord Chancellor’s court granted an injunction restraining a tenant for life without impeachment of waste who had committed voluntary waste of the mansion-house from committing further waste and obliging him to rebuild the mansion-house and put . .
Cited – Barnes v Dowling QBD 1881
A preliminary issue was tried as to whether the plaintiff had an estate or interest entitling him to maintain an action for waste, either voluntary or permissive, against the defendant, who was tenant for life or lives.
Held: On the basis that . .
Cited – 7 H.3 wast 141 1223
CS Attachment against a tenant in dower as to why she had assarted one hundred oak trees and a mill had been broken and drained and the mill-pond also. The tenant said that her late husband M. by the king’s order . .
Cited – 40 E.3. 15b 1366
In a writ it was found that he had committed waste in respect of willows to the value of etc. and it was asked of the inquest jury whether it seemed to them that this was waste and they said that they were growing within the view and the site of the . .
Cited – 8 E.2 wast. 111 1315
In waste where the waste was found of three oak-trees worth etc. and two hundred willow-trees the plaintiff asked for judgment in accordance with the verdict.
INGE, J. did not adjudge waste in such form that he recover the place wasted for the . .
Cited – 38 Ass.1 1364
In a nisi prius at Winchester there was a writ of waste and where the tenant had pleaded that he had committed no waste it was found that the tenant had committed waste before the acquisition of the writ to the damage of one hundred shillings but it . .
Cited – 34 E.3 1360
Waste of a messuage. The tenant pleads ‘no waste committed’ and it was found that they were ruinous for lack of roofing within the term but that the buildings were still standing; notwithstanding this it was adjudged waste. . .
Cited – 17 E.2 wast 119 1324
Waste: the inquest says in respect of one building that he was said to have wasted that at the time the tenements were leased there was no building there but that the lessee had built it and then it was demolished and it was adjudged waste. In . .
Cited – 4 E.3. wast 22 1330
Waste alleging that he held for a term of years by his lease
Pole. No waste committed etc.
The inquest found that he had committed waste in a bakehouse and a rapine and in a mill to the damage of one mark and that he had felled an ash-tree . .
Cited – 29 E.3.33 1355
In waste for a chamber demolished and sold Gower says that at the time of the making of the lease it was very weak and so it collapsed through a storm and we did not demolish it nor did it collapse by our fault. And this was held a good response. . .
Cited – 17 E.3. 65 1343
Two brothers, J. Gray and his brother W., brought a writ of waste against a woman who held in dower of their inheritance and alleged by their count that this was because the lands were partible and counted of waste committed in buildings, lands and . .
Cited – 26 E.3. 76 [recte 26 E.3. 22] 1352
In a writ of waste brought against a tenant in dower the count was that she held in dower of his inheritance and that she had committed waste in the manor of W. and he assigned the waste.
Birton. He does not show how we hold of his . .
Cited – 17 E.3. 7 1343
John de Hull and Maud his wife brought a writ of waste against H. Hadenham and assigned the waste in buildings, namely the knocking down of a hall, chamber, cowshed and grange, and in lands in the digging for ironstone and coal, and in gardens and . .
Cited – 20 E.3. 1346
Waste assigned in a building and in land dug with pits, namely one acre, and in clay carried off, and in timber cut down, namely oaks and ashes etc. and the defendant pleaded no waste committed and by the nis iprius it was found that the building . .
Cited – 18 E.3.15 (recte 14) 1344
John Stapleton brought a writ of waste in three villages where it was pleaded that one place which was called a village was a hamlet of one of the other villages named in the writ and they were at issue on this in relation to the whole writ. And by . .
Cited – 19 E.3. 1345
Waste: where it was found by an inquest where the party pleaded that no waste had been committed that in respect of a kitchen that was burned by a woman who was a stranger without the knowledge of the defendant because they lived elsewhere and to . .
Cited – 41 E.3. 1367
Waste against one alleging that he had felled certain oak trees growing in a wood and also hazels, thorns and willows only in ten acres of land adjoining the wood. He had committed waste by cutting down all the hazels, worth twelve pence each, and . .
Cited – 40 E.3. 35 [recte 40 E.3. 25] 1366
In a writ of waste the plaintiff counted that he had committed waste in respect of hazels and oak trees. And in respect of all except the hazels Belknap pleaded no waste committed and in respect of them he said that they were growing in a park under . .
Cited – 40 Ass. p. 22 1366
It was presented in King’s Bench that John P. who held the manor of E. and H. of the king’s lease had committed waste in the tenements which he had in wardship by reason of the nonage of John the son and heir of John Darcy knight, namely by knocking . .
Cited – 42 E.3. 21 1368
The prior of the Hospital of St John brought a writ of waste against one J and alleged that he had committed waste in certain tenements which he held for the term of his life by the lease of his predecessor, namely in respect of a chamber, a . .
Cited – 46 E.3. 17 1372
Waste brought by a man and alleging that the tenant held by his lease for the term of his life and the tenant came and showed a deed by which the plaintiff and four others had leased the tenements to him for the term of his life, reserving the . .
Cited – 42.E.3. 6b 1368
Waste brought against a man and it was alleged that he had demolished buildings and sold them and that he had cut down the underwood each year, so that it could not grow without being sold and also that he had razed an oven and sold it in the . .
Cited – 43 E.3. 6 1369
A writ of waste was brought and it was alleged that he had committed waste in lands that he held for the term of life and it was assigned that he had committed waste in respect of a grange.
Cavendish. The waste that was committed in the grange . .
Cited – 44 E.3.21 1370
Waste brought against John Exter by the abbot of Waltham, alleging that he had committed waste in a wood to the value of etc. and in a grange to the value of etc. and in certain cottages etc.
Cavendish. As to the wood, no waste committed, ready . .
Cited – 44 E.3.44 1370
A man brought a writ of waste against a woman and supposed by his writ that she had committed waste in respect of a wall and one hundred apple trees and had cut down one hundred oaks and a grange.
Kirkton. As to the wall we ask judgment if this . .
Cited – 49 E.3.2 (recte 49 E.3.1) 1375
A man brought a writ of waste against Thomas Grey of York and alleged that he held for a life term by his lease and assigned waste in respect of a house namely in a grange, a hall and a cottage.
Fulthorpe. As for the hall and the grange we tell . .
Cited – Dove v Banhams Patent Locks 1983
The defendants installed a security gate. The plaintiff, a subsequent purchaser of the property claimed damages when the property was burgled and a defect in the security gate was revealed.
Held: The defendant owed a duty of to the subsequent . .
Cited – 5 R.2 wast 97 1382
Waste where the count was that he had committed waste in ponds which he held in wardship, namely one pond which he had drained and the other in which he destroyed the fish.
Burgh. The writ does not state whether we are guardian de facto or de . .
Cited – 9 H.6. 10 1431
In a writ of waste
Fulthorpe. Judgment of the count. He has alleged waste in oaks and thorns and thorns cannot be considered waste.
Goderede. What do you say in respect of the oaks?
Fulthorpe. That goes for all.
PASTON, J. That is . .
Cited – 11 H.4.32 1409
Thomas Earl of Arundel brought a writ of waste alleging that his ancestor had leased a manor to the defendant for a term of years and specified waste in a hall, a kitchen, a stable and certain oak trees.
Norton (for the defendant) says that the . .
Cited – 7 H.6. 38 1429
Waste was brought against one and waste was assigned in respect of a chamber because he had allowed it to fall down for lack of roofing and also in certain cottages, certain oak trees and certain ash-trees, certain pear-trees and certain apple-trees . .
Cited – 12 H.4. 5 1410
The abbot of Sherborne brought a writ of waste against two husbands and their wives and when the grand distress was returned one husband and wife defaulted and the other husband and wife appeared.
Skrene. Against those who have defaulted we ask . .
Cited – 11 H.6.1 1432
Waste brought against a tenant for term of years for the cutting down of one hundred oaks and in allowing the wood to lie unenclosed so that animals have eaten the shoots of the said wood so that they have ceased to grow.
Danby. It was not the . .
Cited – 22 H.6. 12a 1443
In a writ of waste the plaintiff made a declaration through Danby and assigned as waste the felling of one hundred oaks and also the waste made to the stumps of these same oaks.
Bingham. It appears by the count that the waste is assigned in . .
Cited – 18 H. 6. 33b 1440
A very long scire facias case mainly concerned with other matters. Viner is picking up a passing reference in an argument by Markham that runs as follows: Markham. In a writ of waste brought against me I may well plead that at the time the lease was . .
Cited – 20 H.6. 1 1441
The plaintiff counted that the defendant had committed waste in certain land that he held by curtesy of his inheritance and assigned as waste allowing a sewer within the land not to be maintained so that so much meadow being part of the land is . .
Cited – 23 H.6. 24/22 H. 6 24 1443
In a writ of waste
Danby. Judgment of the writ for the writ supposes the waste to have been committed in terris, domibus, boscis et pratis and he has counted among other things of waste committed in knocking down a fence that surrounds a house . .
Cited – 22 H.6. 18 1443
In a writ of waste the waste assigned was in respect of a house, twenty oaks, forty cart-loads of clay.
Markham. Clay cannot be called waste.
To which it was said by the Court that it is waste in as much as the soil is made poorer by removal . .
Cited – 5 E. 4. 100 1465
A writ of waste was brought alleging that waste had been committed in respect of a building etc. and also in respect of wood, namely certain trees. And in the count in respect of the trees he counted that the defendant cut down the trees and sold . .
Cited – 12 H.8. 1 1520
One N. brought an action of waste against J., suggesting that he had cut down certain trees etc. And the defendant pleaded that he had committed no waste. Subsequently at nisi prius in the county he gave in evidence that the plaintiff had leased him . .
Cited – 5 E.4. 89 1465
A writ of waste was brought and declaration made that the waste had been committed in a messuage, namely in one hall and assigned the waste in a chamber etc. and in a kitchen and assigned the waste in allowing the kitchen to fall down because he did . .
Cited – 13 H.7. 21 1498
In waste the plaintiff counted of the lease of a mill for term of years and assigned waste committed in the floodgates and other things belonging to the mill. And the defendant said that there had been an agreement out of court between the plaintiff . .
Cited – 9 E.4. 35 1469
Report of an action of right for land which then half way through seems to become a report of a quite different action of trespass or of nuisance in which there is one relevant speech by NEEDHAM, J. If a man erect a building to the nuisance of my . .
Cited – 10 H.7.2 1494
Waste brought by an abbot; and he counted how the defendant had committed waste in various things in lands leased to him by his predecessor for a term of years; and assigned as waste . . . the permitting of a certain house to fall . . .
Also . .
Cited – 12 E.4. 1 1472
In waste brought by two on a lease for life. One of the plaintiffs was summoned and severed and the other sued on and alleged waste in respect of various matters etc. and also in cutting down willow trees. The waste was found and the damages . .
Cited – 10 H.7. 5a 1494
In the Common Bench a writ of waste was brought and the plaintiff assigned as waste allowing an earthwall to stand uncovered so that it was destroyed by rain-storms; and he also assigned as waste allowing another wall made of wood to decay and also . .
Cited – 2 H.7. 24 [recte 2 H.7. 14] 1487
In a writ of waste brought against a tenant for a life term who pleaded an order of the plaintiff and that he ordered him to dig for gravel. On which there was a demurrer for judgment as to whether or not the order was good.
Keble. It seems that . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 14 September 2021; Ref: scu.79848

Regina v South Hams District Council, ex parte Gibb, Regina v Gloucestershire County Council, ex parte Davis Etc: QBD 15 Nov 1993

The term ‘Gypsy’ is to be interpreted to include persons who have a nomadic life but more than just habit.
Times 15-Nov-1993
Caravan Sites Act 1968
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Regina v South Hams District Council, ex parte Gibb and Another, Regina v Gloucester Cc, ex parte Davies CA 8-Jun-1994
The meaning of ‘Gypsy’ under the Act requires some element of travelling, and should include that this was associated with the means of earning a living. In applying the statutory definition of gypsies the actual words used are to be used, taking . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 August 2021; Ref: scu.88082

Herefordshire Council v AB: FC 1 Feb 2018

Keehan J
[2018] 2 FLR 784, [2018] EWFC 10
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney SC 18-Jul-2018
On arrest for shoplifting a 12 year old said he had been doing so to get food, and that he had been hit with a belt by his father. Investigation revealed the home to be dangerous, and all eight children were removed to the care of the LA. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.606353

Woolfe, Regina (on The Application of) v London Borough of Islington: Admn 15 Jul 2016

The claimant sought judicial review against Islington under three discrete heads of claim that (1) an aspect of Islington’s scheme is unlawful in that it prevents applicants to whom reasonable preference must be given, but who have fewer than 120 points, from bidding at all for available properties; (2) additionally or alternatively, that points threshold for bidding is unlawful, being in breach of section 11 of the Children Act 2004; and (3) in relation to herself, Islington in any event misapplied their own policy and failed to award her the 90 ‘New Generation’ points to which she says she is entitled under Islington’s own policy and scheme.
Holman J
[2016] EWHC 1907 (Admin)
Bailii
Children Act 2004 11
England and Wales

Updated: 24 July 2021; Ref: scu.567657

EA and others (Public Funds: Housing Association Housing) Nigeria: AIT 25 Nov 2008

AIT Where housing is provided by a housing association it will amount to public funds within the meaning of para 6 of HC 395 if the housing association is acting as the delegate of a local authority in respect of the latter’s housing obligations.
[2008] UKAIT 00084
Bailii
England and Wales

Updated: 17 June 2021; Ref: scu.278544

Minister of Health v Bellotti: CA 1944

298 blocks of flats had been requisitioned to provide accommodation for persons evacuated from Gibraltar during the war. The evacuees occupied the various flats as licensees. They were given only one week’s notice terminating their licences.
Held: Where the relevant period has not been specified by the licence itself, a licensee is entitled, following revocation of the licence, to whatever in all the circumstances is a reasonable time to remove himself and his possessions. It was an unreasonably short period, although possession proceedings were not in fact begun until after the lapse of a reasonable time.
Had the licences been validly terminated? A licensor can terminate a licence at any time as long as reasonable time is given within which the determination is to take effect. However, the question of what the licensee is entitled to expect and the matter of determination of his licence is one that is impossible to answer by reference to other cases in different circumstances.
Mackinnon LJ said: ‘I think the rule of law is that the licensor can revoke his licence at any time, but the licensee has thereafter a reasonable time, having regard to all the circumstances, to comply with the revocation.’
Lord Greene rejected the proposition that the only notice to terminate a licence which the law required was a period sufficient to enable the licensee to remove himself and his property from the premises comprised in the licence: ‘I refer to that because it appears to me that where a question arises as to the lawful method of terminating a licence, the circumstances in which the licence came to be granted are most relevant to consider. Where a licence is granted under a contract, it may very well be that the contract will make express provision for those matters which must be observed, but what is to happen where the contract is silent in that regard? I cannot take the view that there is some cast-iron principle of law which lays down for every type of contract, whatever the circumstances and whatever the purposes for which it was entered into, some rule which is always to operate. In my opinion, the true rule is that the implications of the contract are to be determined by regard to all the relevant circumstances of the case. Thus, in the judgment of the Privy Council in Canadian Pacific Railway Co. v. The King, the following paragraph appears: ‘Whether any and what restrictions exist on the power of a licensor to determine a revocable licence must, their Lordships think, depend upon the circumstances of each case.’ That is the only proposition of general application which I find it possible to extract from that authority; and although the case is not binding on this court, the law there is, in my opinion, laid down with complete accuracy.
The notice given by each letter operates as a clear determination of the licence at the expiration of one week. It conveys to the mind of the recipient as clearly as anything can notice that the licence is determined. It goes on, however, to indicate that the recipient of the letter, together with his possessions, is to be removed from the premises within one week. So far as the letter gives that instruction, it was, in my opinion, quite inoperative. The true view is that where a licence is revoked, the licensee has, in spite of the revocation, whatever in the circumstances is a reasonable time to enable him to remove himself and his possessions from the scene of the licence. I have already said that in the circumstances of this case such a reasonable time must extend to whatever is a reasonable time to find alternative accommodation, and, if the day after this notice expired, proceedings had been taken by the minister to eject the defendants, those proceedings would have failed because the defendants were entitled to a reasonable time, and a week was not a reasonable time, to enable them to find alternative accommodation. The circumstance that the threat to remove them before the expiration of what would have been a reasonable time was inserted in the letter does not prevent the letter from being a good notice to determine the licence. That being the position, the county court judge decided that the interval which elapsed between the expiration of the week mentioned in that document and the commencement of these proceedings was a sufficient time to enable alternative accommodation to be found. In view of that finding of fact, the defendants could not complain at the time these proceedings were instituted that they had not been allowed sufficient time in the circumstances to remove themselves and their possessions and find alternative accommodation.’
References: [1944] 1 KB 298, [1944] 1 All ER 238
Judges: Lord Greene MR, Mackinnon LJ
Jurisdiction: England and Wales
This case cites:

  • Approved – The Canadian Pacific Railway Company v The King PC 19-Feb-1931
    (Canada) ‘Whether any and what restrictions exist on the power of a licensor to determine a revocable licence must, there Lordships think, depend upon the circumstances of each case.’
    A licencee whose licence is revocable is entitled to . .
    (, [1931] UKPC 18, [1931] AC 414)

This case is cited by:

  • Cited – Gibson v Douglas and Another CA 8-Dec-2016
    Appeal against rejection of claim for damages for wrongful eviction and damages to goods.
    Held: The judge had found not that the defendant had failed to give appropriate notice, but that he had not been personally involved other than as an . .
    (, [2016] EWCA Civ 1266)

These lists may be incomplete.
Last Update: 27 November 2020; Ref: scu.192089

Alansi, Regina (on The Application of) v London Borough of Newham: Admn 27 Nov 2013

The claimant challenged the decision by the respondent no longer to treat her as being in the Priority Homeseeker category for rehousing.
References: [2013] EWHC 3722 (Admin), [2014] WLR(D) 117, [2014] PTSR 948
Links: Bailii, WLRD
Judges: Stuart-Smith J
Jurisdiction: England and Wales

Last Update: 23 September 2020; Ref: scu.518475

Enfield London Borough Council v French: CA 1984

In considering a request for a possession order for which it was a requirement that an odder of suitable alternative accomodation, the question of whether the accommodation was suitable should be decided before the question whether it was reasonable to make an order for possession.
References: (1984) 17 HLR 211
Judges: Stephenson LJ
Jurisdiction: England and Wales
This case is cited by:

  • Cited – Bracknell Forest Borough Council v Green and Another CA 20-Mar-2009 (, [2009] EWCA Civ 238, [2009] CP Rep 31, [2009] PTSR CS49, [2009] NPC 45, [2009] HLR 38)
    The council sought possession of the property saying that the three bedroomed property was underused by the tenant and his sister. The respondents said that it was not too extensive, and that no satisfactory alternative accommodation had been . .

These lists may be incomplete.
Last Update: 22 September 2020; Ref: scu.323742

Regina v Waveney District Council ex parte Bowers; 25 May 1982

References: Times 25-May-1982
Coram: Stephen Brown J
Ratio:The applicant sought judicial review of a decision that he was not homeless under section 1 of the Act. For 15 months he had been using a night shelter in Lowestoft. It was an unheated dormitory in a derelict building. It was empty and closed between 8:00am and 8:00pm each day. If on any evening he presented himself at the shelter at or after 8:00pm, he was offered a bed, unless it was already full, in which case he was turned away.
Held: The housing authority’s decision that he had accommodation at the shelter was irrational.
Statutes: Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977
This case is cited by:

  • Reversed in part – Regina -v- Waveney City Council, ex parte Bowers CA ([1983] QB 238, Times 25-May-82, [1982] 3 WLR 661, [1982] 3 All ER 727)
    The applicant was an alcoholic and had in 1980 been hit by a motor vehicle and suffered a severe head injury. He sought judicial review of the respondent’s failure to house him.
    Held: The appeal was allowed: ‘The question we have to consider . .
  • Cited – Manchester City Council -v- Moran and Another; Richards -v- Ipswich Borough Council CA (Bailii, [2008] EWCA Civ 378, Times 20-May-08, [2008] 1 WLR 2387)
    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 . .
  • Cited – Birmingham City Council -v- Ali and Others; Moran -v- Manchester City Council HL (Bailii, [2009] UKHL 36, Times, [2009] NPC 88, [2009] 1 WLR 1506, [2009] PTSR 1270, [2009] 4 All ER 161, [2009] BLGR 749)
    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 . .

(This list may be incomplete)

Last Update: 26-Jun-16
Ref: 266980

Regina v London Borough of Ealing Ex parte Sidhu; 2 Jan 1982

References: (1982) 2 HLR 48
Coram: Hodgson J
The applicant, in flight from domestic violence, had gone with her two young children, to stay in a women’s refuge. The local authority argued that she was not homeless because she had accommodation available to her in the refuge.
Held: The application for judicial review succeeded. The court approved the conclusion of a county court judge in another case that ‘women living in refuges were still homeless’ under the terms of the 1977 Act. Hodgson J did not regard a crisis refuge as accommodation within the meaning of the 1977 Act. It was essential that women who had gone to refuges were still seen as homeless. Otherwise the refuges would have to give them 28 days notice when they came in so that they would be under threat of homelessness (under s 1(3) of the 1977 Act).
Statutes: Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977
This case cites:

  • Cited – Din (Taj) -v- Wandsworth London Borough Council HL ([1983] 1 AC 657, Bailii, [1981] UKHL 14, [1981] 3 WLR 918, [1982] 1 All ER 1022, (1981-82) 1 HLR 73, [1981] 3 All ER 881)
    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 . .

This case is cited by:

  • Cited – Manchester City Council -v- Moran and Another; Richards -v- Ipswich Borough Council CA (Bailii, [2008] EWCA Civ 378, Times 20-May-08, [2008] 1 WLR 2387)
    The two applicants had occupied a women’s refuge. They appealed 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 would have . .
  • Cited – Birmingham City Council -v- Ali and Others; Moran -v- Manchester City Council HL (Bailii, [2009] UKHL 36, Times, [2009] NPC 88, [2009] 1 WLR 1506, [2009] PTSR 1270, [2009] 4 All ER 161, [2009] BLGR 749)
    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 . .

Metropolitan Properties Company (FGC) Limited v Lannon; 11 Jul 1968

References: [1968] RVR 490, [1968] EWCA Civ 5, [1968] 3 All ER 304, [1968] 3 WLR 694, (1968) 19 P & CR 856, [1969] 1 QB 577
Links: Bailii
Coram: Lord Denning MR, Danckwerts LJ, Edmund Davies LJ
Tenants of apartments asked the Rent Officer to fix the fair rents. On appeal, the rents were then set at a rate lower even than they had requested. The rents would serve as a guide for other local rents. The landlords now complained that the chairman of the Rent Assessment Committee had been assisting his own father in negotiating a rent for such a local property, and had represented other tenants. They complained of bias.
Held: He should not have sat. It was accepted that he had had no pecuniary interest himself, and had acted scrupulously. It was a question of whether there was any appearance of bias.
Lord Denning MR considered the test for apparent bias, and said: ‘The court looks at the impression which would be given to other people. Even if he was as impartial as could be, nevertheless if right-minded persons would think that, in the circumstances, there was a real likelihood of bias on his part, then he should not sit. And if he does sit, his decision cannot stand.’
Statutes: Rent Act 1965
This case is cited by:

  • Cited – Regina -v- Abdroikof, Regina -v- Green; Regina -v- Williamson HL (Bailii, [2007] UKHL 37, Times 08-Nov-07, [2007] 1 WLR 2679, [2008] 1 Cr App R 21, [2008] Crim LR 134, [2008] 1 All ER 315, (2007) 151 SJLB 1365)
    The House was asked whether a jury in criminal trials containing variously a Crown Prosecution Service solicitor, or a police officer would have the appearance of bias. In Abdroikof, the presence of the police officer on the jury was discovered only . .

Wilson v Lord Finch Hatton; CExC 1877

References: (1877) 2 Ex D 336
Coram: Pollock B
It was said that the premises had previously been occupied by someone with measles and were therefore not fit for human habitation.
Held: A term of fitness for occupation was implied into a lease of furnished premises at its commencement and meant: ‘that it should be reasonably healthy, and so not dangerous to the life of those inhabiting it.’
Pollock B said that furnished lettings were an exception to the doctrine that rent issues out of the realty and held instead that rent was simply ‘a sum paid for the accommodation afforded by the use of the house’.
This case cites:

  • Applied – Smith -v- Marrable, Knt ([1842] EngR 1137, Commonlii, (1842) Car & M 479, (1842) 174 ER 598)
    If premises be let for the purposes of occupation, it is on an implied condition that they should be fit for occupation. . .

This case is cited by:

  • Cited – Hussain -v- Mehlman CC (Bailii, [1992] 2 EGLR 287, [1992] 32 EG 59, [1992] EW Misc 1)
    (County Court) The defendant landlord granted the plaintiff a three year assured shorthold tenancy. He now appealed a finding that he was in breach of an implied covenant to maintain the space heating, and otherwise. The tenant had returned the . .

Delahaye v Oswestry Borough Council; 29 Jul 1980

References: Times 29-Jul-1980
Coram: Woolf J
The applicant had made more than one application for emergency housing and temporary accomodation pending the result of her application.
Held: It could not have been the intention of Parliament that a similar statute should be used by someone, who is not entitled to permanent accommodation to obtain the continuous use of temporary accommodation by means of successive applications.
This case is cited by:

  • Cited – Griffin, Regina (on the Application of) -v- London Borough of Southwark Admn (Bailii, [2004] EWHC 2463 (Admin), Times 03-Jan-05)
    The applicant had sought emergency housing with her husband, but refused accomodation on a particuar estate for her safety. She had then been evicted form the temporary housing supplied on the application. After a series of temporary arrangements . .
  • Cited – Regina -v- Harrow London Borough Council Ex Parte Fahia HL (Times 24-Jul-98, Gazette 16-Sep-98, House of Lords, Bailii, [1998] UKHL 29, [1998] 1 WLR 1396)
    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 . .