We represented our client, 'EA', in two successful suitability reviews under s202 of the Housing Act 1996, which resulted in a direct offer of a secure council tenancy from Lambeth Council.
Our client was a single mother living with her two young children in temporary accommodation provided by Lambeth Council. This was overcrowded studio accommodation with substantial disrepair issues.
We requested a review under s202 of the Housing Act 1996 as to the suitability of the studio, which was successful. Lambeth subsequently failed to provide suitable alternative accommodation, so we sent a pre-action letter challenging this failure.
EA was made an offer of alternative accommodation which she accepted. However, this accommodation was also not suitable for EA as it presented risks to her children’s safety through lack of space, and its location isolated her from friends and family members.
Review of temporary accommodation
We obtained an expert environmental health report to assess hazards at the accommodation. The assessment found that overcrowding in the property was a category one hazard. Moreover, the property did not meet the minimum space requirements for a two-person flat within Lambeth’s own guidelines.
We used this report as evidence in a s202 review of Lambeth’s decision that this second property was suitable. The s202 review overturned Lambeth’s initial decision, finding that the property was unsuitable due to overcrowding, but not due to its distance from EA’s support network.
Securing alternative accommodation
Lambeth again failed to provide suitable alternative accommodation. We sent another pre-action letter challenging this failure. On receipt of the pre-action letter Lambeth made EA a direct offer of a secure council tenancy, which she accepted.
EA was represented by solicitor Thea Grattidge in the Housing team.
Importantly, any TA offered must be “suitable” for the household’s needs. Suitability is subjective in each case which means what is “suitable” for one family may not be suitable for the next. Suitability is assessed through a housing needs assessment (HNA), which councils are expected to carry out when a family (or any homeless applicant) first presents as homeless. The assessment should consider a range of factors, including the size and condition of the property required, the family’s health and support needs, and the proximity to schools or other essential services.
If you have not been provided with a housing needs assessment, or you do not think your housing needs assessment correctly identifies you or your family’s needs, this should be communicated to your homeless case worker.
If you believe your TA is unsuitable, there are different routes to challenge depending on where the TA is provided under s.188 or s.193 of the Housing Act:
TA under s.188
- Request an internal review of suitability
- Judicial review proceedings
TA under s.193
- Internal review of suitability: This by way of an internal review conducted by the council upon request made by the applicant or as a
- statutory review under s.202 Housing Act 1996. With a statutory review, homeless applicants must lodge their request with their local authority within 21 days of the decision that the accommodation is suitable. The suitability decision is usually contained in the letter offering the TA . Also, in situations where a client receives a main duty acceptance letter, this letter often refers to the TA being provided at that time as being suitable and so the 21 days would run from the date of that letter. Thereafter, the council should provide a review decision within eight weeks.
The correspondence requesting the review should be clearly labelled as a review.
A recent example of a suitability review that we requested for a client was in relation to accommodation that they were offered 100 miles out of London. We successfully challenged the suitability on the grounds that this would cause our client, a single mother, social isolation due to being so far away from her support network. Read more here.
County Court appeal: If the council upholds on review that the s.193 TA is suitable, homeless applicants can escalate the case to the County Court on a point of law. This is a more complicated process that we would advise families to obtain legal advice for; however, we do link some useful information below in the case that legal advice is not accessible.
