A legal action that shames Brent Council

Another case has emerged where Brent Council has pursued legal action against a vulnerable member of the local community apparently without any consideration of ethical issues. In this case they pursued a recently bereaved deaf gay man for possession of his home.

The story was told by Debra Wilson for Anthony Gold Solicitors on the Lexology legal newsfeed website LINK :

His Honour Judge Lochrane in giving judgment on a possession claim brought by Brent Council was critical of the Council’s approach, in refusing to allow a cohabitee a right to succeed to his deceased Gay partner’s tenancy.

The couple had lived together in a committed relationship for several years. Brent Council relied on a Court of Appeal authority to the effect that in order to succeed to a tenancy, applicants must prove that their relationship is “openly and unequivocally displayed to the outside world”. The couple concerned were both profoundly deaf and were in a homosexual relationship akin to that of living together as civil partners, of which was known to several members of the deaf lesbian and gay community.

The Judge was concerned that the proceedings did not descend into any “unedifying” process of an examination into the private life of the defendant. The council’s lawyers sought to find a way of arguing that the defendant had not informed the local authority that he was in a Gay relationship with his deceased partner. There was a veil of silence to this case as the couple lived a life where their deafness and lack of speech clearly made communications difficult with anyone who was not “within their world”. But, Brent Council disagreed, as it was their view that any couple living together must be “open” with the local authority and not just within their own community.

The Judge made a finding that he considered that Brent Council had not assessed the case with the necessary “delicacy and sensitivity” that it required. The Judge considered that it was incumbent on Brent Council to make proper enquiries before coming to a conclusion because of the potential devastating effect that the Defendant would have been homeless. The case serves to underline that there are various reasons why some couples would wish to hide their relationship, whether because of cultural divides, age differences, disapproval from family and so forth.

Brent Council asked for permission to appeal which was refused. The Council were ordered to pay the costs of the action. The Defendant’s counsel’s parting shot was to warn Brent council that any efforts to overturn the Judge’s refusal of permission to appeal would cause undoubted outrage amongst, not only the Gay, Lesbian and Deaf community but Brent council taxpayers for bringing a case that really should not have been pursued.

10 lessons for social landlords on the bedroom tax

Brent Housing Action campaigner at Chalkhill on Saturday

Brent Housing Action has circulated the following useful item from the Guardian which was provided by Jennie Bibbings of Shelter Wales LINK

Lesson 1: Communicate with tenants
We have clients who have still not had any communication from their landlord about how many bedrooms they are considered to have and whether they are likely to be affected. The lack of information from their landlord, combined with the extensive media coverage of the bedroom tax, meant that our clients became extremely confused about their situation.

Many housing benefit teams are sending out letters detailing appeal rights. However, some are failing to include information about how to challenge decisions – which is crucial, since tenants have only one month to challenge from the date they are notified.
 
Lesson 2: Ensure data on property size matches tenancy agreements
Compiling accurate information on property size has been a challenge for some landlords. We have numerous clients whose landlords have told them they have more bedrooms than appear on their tenancy agreements. One social landlord in south-west Wales only compiled a list of property sizes in September 2012 and relied on the local authority to tell it which tenants would be affected.
 
Lesson 3: Housing benefit departments need to process discretionary housing payment applications quickly
When we rang to apply for discretionary housing payments for a disabled client living in an adapted home, the housing benefit officer specifically asked whether our client was disabled. The application was dealt with as a priority and the award was made within two weeks.

Unfortunately our clients have not had such efficient service everywhere. In some areas applications are taking six weeks or more to be processed. Although landlords are showing willingness to delay eviction proceedings until decisions have been made, the length of time is still leading to significantly more arrears being accrued.
 
Lesson 4: Be sensitive to tenants' needs – and don't make them feel bullied into leaving their accommodation
We have a client who is a tenant of a small housing association. Following the breakdown of his relationship, and his children growing up and leaving home, he is now the sole tenant of a three-bedroom house. He told us that he was strongly encouraged to sign a notice to quit at the landlord's office as he would not be able to manage the shortfall caused by bedroom tax.

Lesson 5: Now is not the time to start demanding the first month's rent in advance from housing benefit claimants
One large social landlord is now demanding the first month's rent in advance before accepting new tenants, even when a person is transferring to smaller accommodation due to the bedroom tax. This approach is a barrier to people on housing benefit being able to access social housing, and is going to prohibit tenants from downsizing.

Lesson 6: Extra help for tenants can make a big difference
Many landlords are employing additional staff and setting up assistance funds to help tenants manage the impact of the bedroom tax. Pembrokeshire Housing Association offers tenants up to £500 to cover moving costs or reduce arrears to allow them to move to accommodation more suited for them, while Powys county council offers up to £1,500 to assist older people that are under-occupying with moving costs.
 
Lesson 7: Exercise flexibility in allocations
We had a homeless client who was eight months pregnant and looking for accommodation in south-west Wales. She came out top of the list when she bid for a two-bedroom property. However, the landlord refused to allocate to her as, until the baby was born, she only qualified for a one-bedroom house. Before a formal challenge could be made, the landlord had already allocated the property to someone in a lower band.
 
Lesson 8: Ensure transfer policies do not prevent people from downsizing
Not all landlords have changed their transfer policies to allow people in arrears caused by the bedroom tax to downsize. Some of our clients are in a catch 22 situation with rising arrears but unable to downsize due to restrictive transfer policies.
 
Lesson 9: Housing benefit should not place onerous burdens of proof on claimants
In south-east Wales we have clients who are a disabled couple, living in an adapted property with one spare bedroom. Neither has the capacity to care for the other at night, so they have overnight carers for six nights a week. The local authority is requesting numerous pieces of evidence before they will accept that the couple need the extra room for a carer. This is despite the fact that they already have proof they meet the relevant disability living allowance and attendance allowance criteria.

Lesson 10: The courts may not be on your side
Our caseworkers have encountered a local district judge who is suggesting he may refuse possession where there are bedroom tax arrears, but instead may take other measures such as inviting the press and public into the court and using Human Rights Act legislation to deny possession. Landlords need to be aware that not all judges will look favourably on possession proceedings.

PRIVATE TENANTS DEMAND: Decent, Secure, Affordable Homes For All

I have received the message below from London Private Tenants. Census data released last week showed a significant rise in the number of Brent residents living in the private rented sector. Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt has pledged action to improve the standard of homes in the sector but tenants also want to see the reintroduction of rent controls and increased security of tenure.

Join us on Tuesday 18th December at City Hall (GLA HQ) to stand up for the rights of private tenants to decent, affordable, secure homes.

When: 9am to 10am  - City Hall, The Queen's Walk, London SE1 2AA   [To help organise, meet 8:45am @ Cafe Fratelli, nearby]

We will be demanding that rent controls are brought back, local housing allowance (LHA) is increased with inflation, secure tenancies are reintroduced and greater protection and support is given to private tenants.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
On Tuesday 18th Dec the London Assembly Housing and Regeneration Committee are holding their last meeting as part of the review of London's Private Rented Sector. The theme of this meeting is 'tenant and landlord rights' and the purpose of the review is to 'evaluate different options for achieving higher property standards, greater security and more affordable tenancies'.

Tenants have been given little voice in the process so far, so come and join other private tenants and supporters to make our demands known and put pressure on those attending to stand up for private tenants.

Bring banners, Santa hats, placards, lots of noise ..and warm clothing...

Carol singing!
Tenants have adapted some classic carols to the theme of housing and will be singing on the day, so come ready with your best singing voice

The meeting
This is a public meeting and some of us are planning to go in, we want to make the presence of tenants and supporters felt, so please join us. At the start, we'll be presenting our 'Dear Santa' scrapbook to the Chair of the Committee, Len Duvall.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Private Tenants Demands...
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Affordability

Bring Rents Down!
Housing is a basic necessity, like food and water. Actions to maximize rental income at the detriment of tenants show this has been forgotten. Rent controls do exist on pre-1989 tenancies and we demand these controls be introduced to all tenancies.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Remove all bogus Letting Agents 'fees' for tenants!
Letting Agents provide a service to Landlords and charge them for doing so - they should not take further 'fees' from tenants. Agency 'fees', reference 'checks', admin 'fees' and leaving 'fees' are all costs that have been created in recent years by and for Letting Agents to increase their profits and exploit the basic need to have a home.

Length of Tenure
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Bring Back Secure Tenancies!
Until 1988 most tenancies were secure. Today, private tenants are given a six month tenancy with few rights. Across London, people are being evicted by landlords who know they can charge extortionate rents for substandard properties. Tenants should be able to live in their chosen community and home, near schools, friends and family, as long as they wish. Housing should not be a business like selling cars or renting holiday homes. Bringing back rent control will force rents down to affordable levels.

Tenant and Landlord Rights

Decent Standards!
Less than half of private rented homes meet the Decent Homes Standard. Many homes in London are in an appalling, dangerous condition and it is often children, the elderly and vulnerable adults who are worse affected. The link between poor housing and the health, wellbeing and life chances of tenants is striking. 

Tenant Empowerment!
The GLA should ensure that empowering tenants is central to the policy recommendations that come out of this review. Presently, landlords have many rights, and tenants have very few. This balance of power needs to be shifted so that tenants are empowered to enforce their right to be involved in all decision-making about their housing, from rent to maintenance to length of tenancy. The GLA should ensure that the voice of private tenants is heard at all levels of policy making. There is a tradition of landlords being thoroughly consulted in discussions about the private rented sector but tenants being ignored. The London Assembly has the power to see this change.

Private Tenants in London are mobilising! Why not get involved with a group near you? Or set one up of your own.

- Housing for the 99% .,.. housingforthe99@gmail.com
- Hackney Housing Action Group...hackneyhousinggroup@gmail.com
- Digs - Hackney Private Renters Group.. hello@hackneyrenters.org
- Haringey Housing Action Group... housing-action@haringey.org.uk