The Housing Act: grounds for an appeal?
Homelessness and priority need: challenging a local authority.
Homelessness: next legal steps
If you believe you’re homeless, but your local authority decides they do not have to help you, you may be able to challenge them.
You have 21 days to request a review (an ‘s.202’) of the decision.
You have 21 days to request a review (an ‘s.202’) of the decision.
The local authority then has eight weeks to complete that review. You can provide arguments to support your case, setting out why you think their decision is wrong. If the review doesn’t go in your favour, or if you don’t receive a decision at all, you can make a statutory appeal to the County Court within 21 days (under ‘s.204’ of the Housing Act 1996).
You can only base your appeal on an error of law, such as:
If you’ve received a negative homeless decision or s.202 review, contact Lawstop as soon as possible for further advice.
You can only base your appeal on an error of law, such as:
- An error in interpreting the legislation
- A decision that is irrational
- A decision that is in breach of natural justice
- A decision which is biased or made in bad faith
If you’ve received a negative homeless decision or s.202 review, contact Lawstop as soon as possible for further advice.