We recently represented a client in a successful suitability review resulting in our client's main housing duty being reinstated.

Our client is a single mother living with her son. She had various physical and mental health impairments, relying on her son and other family members for support with her health and care needs. The council made her a mandatory offer of private rented sector accommodation outside of borough and far away from the majority of her support network, which then placed a huge burden on our client's son in meeting her care needs. Although our client considered the offer to be unsuitable for several reasons, she accepted it to avoid being considered to have made herself voluntarily homeless. She requested a s.202 review of the offer.

S.202 Suitability Review and Obtaining Expert Evidence

We provided detailed representations to the council highlighting the unsuitability of the property. Following her move, our client also identified significant disrepair issues within the property, including damp and mould. We obtained expert evidence from an independent surveyor, confirming these disrepairs amounted to Category 1 Hazards. Thus, making it unsuitable for human habitation. We submitted the surveyor report to the council and highlighted the severity of the disrepair in our correspondence with the council.

The council issued a revie decision deciding that the property was suitable despite the issues and evidence noted above.

County Court Appeal

We then advised our client on bringing an appeal of the review decision under s.204 of the Housing Act 1996, on the basis that the review decision unlawful. Shortly after the review decision was issued our client had to be decanted from the property due to the extent of the repairs. We put the Council on notice of this and of our client's intention to bring a s.204 appeal. Before issue of proceedings, the council accepted that the accommodation was indeed not suitable for our client to continue occupying and withdrew their previous review decision and confirmed they would carry out a fresh review.

We submitted additional representations, including an Occupational Therapy report, highlighting the unsuitability of the property and stressing its inability to meet the housing recommendations noted in the OT expert evidence. Following this, the council then refused to carry out a fresh review stating that a review decision had already been made. The council failed to acknowledge that because they had withdrawn their original decision, the review was now considered incomplete and a final decision regarding the suitability of the property was still outstanding. We wrote back raising the council's breach of their duties under s.202 of the Housing Act 1996 and informed the council of our client's intention to issue Judicial Review proceedings in response to the council's actions. Following receipt of our pre action letter, the council conceded and issued a fresh review decision accepting the property was unsuitable.

The main housing duty has now been reinstated, and we are continuing to assist our client with being offered suitable accommodation.

Temporary Accommodation and Suitability

Any Temporary accommodation 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

1. Request an internal review of suitabilit

2. Judicial review proceedings

TA under s.193

1. Internal review of suitability: This by way of internal review conducted by the council upon request made by the applicant or as a statutory review under s.202 Housing Act 1996.

3. 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.