Legal

The High Court ruled today that the DWP's treatment of UC claimants who are paid twice in one assessment period is unlawful, with the judgment descriping DWP's approach as "odd in the extreme".

Our helpline has fielded lots of calls in recent weeks relating to unlawful evictions. In many of these cases, the landlord had furnished the tenant with a “licence” agreement, rather than a tenancy agreement. However, the fact that a person’s contract refers to them as a licensee does not override the facts of the matter. If, on investigation, it is established that a tenancy in fact exists the landlord must follow the correct legal process to recover possession of the dwelling.

The Court of Appeal for England & Wales has found that a local authority failed to comply with its Public Sector Equality Duty and erred in its decision that an applicant for homelessness assistance was not homeless because it was reasonable to expect her to remain in her home. Victoria Taylor, a recent Queen's University Graduate who is currently undertaking an LLM in Human Rights and Criminal Justice and volunteering with Housing Rights, discusses the case. 

The UK Upper Tribunal has found that a First Tier Tribunal erred in law by deciding that a person who sold his former home and rented it back could not receive Housing Benefit. In an important decision, the court ruled that the test of whether someone could continue to occupy their home without relinquishing ownership is one of practical compulsion, rather than legal compulsion and does not necessitate that the lender has started legal action to recover possession of the property.