Our client instructed us to advise her regarding the validity of a Section 21 notice. We requested her homeless file from the council to assist with this, as the council had advised on a previous Section 21 notice as part of  a homeless application, and therefore they may hold useful information.

In the homeless file we discovered that our client had been unlawfully gatekept when she was 20 years old, and she would have had automatic priority need as a qualifying care leaver at that time. She remained homeless due to significant affordability issues in her private housing, which had been exacerbated by the gatekeeping. We advised our client about the complaints process, and she was then able to obtain the main homeless duty and temporary accommodation.

We then advised her regarding the housing waiting list and assisted with a review of a decision that she could only be offered studio accommodation. We identified that studio accommodation had a significantly longer wait time than 1 bedroom accommodation (many years more). Through FOI data we identified that in practice the council had significant discretion regarding assignment of bedroom need, and we raised this on review alongside our client’s exceptional circumstances.

The review was successful, our client was accepted as requiring one bedroom accommodation and made a permanent offer of council housing under Part 6 Housing Act 1996.