Documents

This letter can be used to confirm that a person has applied as homeless to a council in England.

The letter should be used where:

• you are not yet satisfied that the applicant is eligible and either homeless or threatened with homelessness
• you have decided a duty is owed to provide interim accommodation under s.188 of the Housing Act 1996
• but you consider the applicant's existing accommodation is suitable for them, at least for a short period of time.

This letter is likely to be appropriate where:

• you have reason to believe that the applicant's existing accommodation may not be reasonable to continue to occupy in the medium to longer term
• but, while you believe this may be the case, you have not yet established (i.e. are not yet satisfied as to) the applicant's homelessness status.

The letter makes use of one of the rules from Birmingham CC v Ali & Aweys [2009] UKHL 36. In this case it was held that where it is not reasonable for a person to continue to occupy accommodation indefinitely (under HA 1996, s.175(3)) - so they are statutory homeless - this does necessarily mean, when performing the interim s.188 duty to secure temporary accommodation, that their existing accommodation cannot be suitable for a short period.

Note: other letters are available that confirm that a homeless application has been taken.