Neuberger LJ said: ‘ I turn to the text of the letter of 25 January 2002. It referred to the Council ‘making a reasonable and suitable offer of permanent accommodation’, but it made no reference to the opinion that it was or would be reasonable for the respondent to accept the accommodation
On a fair reading, the letter of 25 January 2002 was a proleptic communication as to the Council’s conclusion if 3 Brimsdown House was rejected again …. Further, the section requires the communication to state both that ‘the accommodation was suitable’ for the person concerned, and that ‘it was reasonable for him to accept it’. While I do not suggest that the wording of the communication must slavishly follow those forms of words, it must, in my view, convey both points. I do not think that the 25 January letter quite achieves that: it merely refers to 3 Brimsdown House as amounting to a ‘reasonable and suitable offer of permanent accommodation . . There is an alternative analysis, which was that adopted by the Council, and it is an analysis which is arguably correct, although (for reasons already given) I do not think that it is. That analysis is that the letter of 25 January 2002 was an appropriate notification under section 193(7)(b).’
Judges:
Pill LJ, Keene LJ, Neuberger LJ
Citations:
[2005] EWCA Civ 340, [2006] HLR 9, [2005] 1 WLR 2103
Links:
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Ravichandran and Another v London Borough of Lewisham CA 2-Jul-2010
The claimant appealed against an order confirming a review of the decision that the local authority owed no futher duty to her under section 193. She had rejected the house offered as unsuitable for medical reasons.
Held: The tenant’s appeal . .
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
Updated: 29 June 2022; Ref: scu.223806
