Court of Appeal

Published March 25, 2008

Omar v Westminster City Council

An officer reviewing a local authority decision that it had discharged its housing duty by offering suitable acccommodation had to examine the facts as they appeared at the date of that decision.

The Court of Appeal (Lord Justice Waller, Lord Justice Tuckey and Lord Justice Sedley) so stated on March 3, 2008 when allowing an appeal by Hassan Omar against the dismissal by Judge Bailey in Central London County Court on August 23, 2007 of his appeal against a review by an officer of Westminster City Council that accommodation offered by the council on February 23, 2007, in Walthamstow was suitable for his family’s needs.

LORD JUSTICE WALLER said that the question of which facts should be considered on review would depend on what exactly was being reviewed.

Provided there was no statutory provision to the contrary, the facts were dictated by common sense. Suitability was assessed in relation to a particular person and was a flexible concept.

Where the council had taken a view that it had offered suitable property and in that process had discharged its duty to accommodate, the question was whether the council was right as at the date of the original decision and for that purpose the reviewer should examine the facts as at that date.

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