Tower Hamlets London Borough Council v Abdi
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 16 September 1992 |
| Date | 16 September 1992 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
Court of Appeal
Before Lord Justice Glidewell, Lord Justice Mann and Lord Justice Leggatt
Housing - temporary accommodation - local authority breach - no defence to possession action
An allegation of breach by a local housing authority of its duty to provide suitable permanent accommodation for a homeless person could not be raised by way of defence or counterclaim to a claim by the authority for possession of temporary accommodation previously provided.
The Court of Appeal allowed an appeal by Tower Hamlets London Borough Council from Judge Medawar, QC, at Edmonton County Court on June 17 who had dismissed its application for Mrs Lul Hassam Abdi's defence and counterclaim to be struck out.
Mr Ashley Underwood and Miss Lisa Giovannetti for the council; Mr Alan Tyrrell, QC and Mr Mark Loveday for Mrs Abdi.
LORD JUSTICE MANN said that the council had determined that Mrs Abdi and her family were unintentionally homeless persons and accordingly accepted a statutory obligation to provide them with suitable accommodation: sections 65 and 69 of the Housing Act 1985.
The council had discharged that duty in the first instance by providing temporary accommodation at Flat B, 366 Green Lanes, Finsbury Park, London, Flat B being private leased accommodation: paragraph 6 of Schedule 1 to the 1985 Act.
On March 21, 1991, the council had offered Mrs Abdi permanent accommodation at 32 Sleaford House, Lincoln Estate, Bow. She had regarded that accommodation as being unsuitable in that it did not cater for her medical condition.
The council had considered her rejection to be unreasonable and had informed her that its duty under Part 3 of the 1985 Act had been performed by the making of that offer.
On June 20, 1991, it had served notice to quit Flat B. Subsequently, it had brought possession proceedings.
By her defence and counterclaim, Mrs Abdi had, inter alia, denied the council's averment that her rejection of the permanent accommodation offered was unreasonable and counterclaimed for a declaration that the council had not discharged its duty to her under the Act.
Mr Underwood had submitted that those allegations were entertainable only in judicial review proceedings, for they were not referenced to any private law right to remain in Flat B. He relied on the observations of Lord Donaldson of Lymington, Master of the Rolls, in Avon County Council v BuscottELR ([1988] QB 656, 663)...
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Hertfordshire County Council v Bryn Colin Davies
...There must, however, be a link between the breach of public law which is asserted and a private law right: see Tower Hamlets LBC v Abdi (1992) 25 HLR 80, CA, at p 87, cited with approval by the Court of Appeal in London Borough of Hackney v Lambourne (1993) 25 HLR 172. I must decide what im......
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Wandsworth London Borough Council v A
...at least Ralph Gibson and Parker LJJ saw themselves as bound by the then recent decision in this court in Tower Hamlets LBC v Abdi (1992) 25 HLR 80. There again a person in temporary accommodation defended possession proceedings by relying on his right to be housed. That right was, however,......
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Marian Dahir Mohamed v The Mayor & Burgesses of the London Borough of Barnet
...Appeal decisions in Abdi and Hickey 25 Paragraph 6b has been considered by the Court of Appeal in London Borough of Tower Hamlets v Abdi (1993) 25 HLR 80 (“ Abdi”) and Haringey LBC v Hickey [2006] EWCA Civ 373 (“ 26 Abdi was decided in 1992. As a housing authority, Tower Hamlets Council ha......
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London Borough of Hounslow v Alex Adjei
...Council [1983] A.C. 286, 292–293, was a right that could only be asserted in public law proceedings. As Mann L.J. put it in Abdi's case, 25 H.L.R. 80, as analysed by Ralph Gibson L.J. in Lambourne's case, 25 H.L.R. 172, 181, the infringed right, i.e. to suitable accommodation, existed solel......