Legal

Housing benefit regulations allow for ongoing payment of benefit while the claimant is absent from home in certain circumstances. The length of time during which benefit can be paid depends on the reasons for the claimant’s absence. A prisoner’s entitlement to continue to receive Housing Benefit while in custody depends on whether the person is on remand or sentenced.

Shelter successfully assisted a client to challenge a letting agent’s refusal to allow her to view a property because the agent did not accept tenants in receipt of housing benefit. So-called “No DSS” policies have never been successfully challenged in court before as the defendants generally settle, with a number of such settlements receiving media attention earlier this year.

In Guiste v Lambeth LBC (2019) WECA Civ 1758 the Court of Appeal in England and Wales once again considered the issue of vulnerability and priority need. The case concerned an application for homelessness assistance by a young man who was alleged to have both physical and mental health issues and who was found not to be in priority need by the council.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled in a majority verdict that the application of the bedroom tax to a woman living in a property with a sanctuary scheme constituted unlawful discrimination.