Documents

A letter for notifying a homeless applicant that the accommodation duty under section 193C(4) of the Housing Act 1996 has ended because:

• the applicant has voluntarily ceased to occupy, as their only or principal home, the temporary accommodation made available to meet the section 193C(4) duty.

When the s.193C accommodation duty is owed

The duty to secure accommodation under s.193C(4) is owed where an applicant who has a priority need and is unintentionally homeless is no longer owed the s.189B relief duty*, following service of a section 193B notice, due to their deliberate and unreasonable refusal to take a mandatory step in their housing plan.

Discharge ground

The s.193C(4) duty ends if the applicant "voluntarily ceases to occupy, as the applicant's only or principal home, the accommodation made available for the applicant's occuaption." (s.193C(5)(d)).

Notification of discharge

It should be noted that there is no freestanding and explicit requirement under section 193C to notify this decision (to end the duty) to the applicant. Strictly speaking, the accommodation duty ends when the above factual circumstance occurs (since subsection (5) states that the authority "cease to be subject to the duty" if one of the listed events happens).

*The s.193C(4) duty to secure temporary accommodation is also owed if the prevention duty ends because notification is given under section 193B if, when the prevention duty ends, the applicant:

• is eligible for assistance
• is homeless
• has a priority need, and
• became homeless unintentionally (s.193B(1) and s.193C(1) to (3)).