Jenni Richards QC and Josephine Norris have secured an important ruling from the Court of Appeal about landlords' entitlement to appeal housing benefit decisions
Jenni Richards QC and Josephine Norris represented the successful local authority appellant in Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council v Salisbury Independent Living [2012] EWCA Civ 84, in a decision which affects all local housing authorities, landlords and housing benefit claimants. The Court of Appeal ruled, overturning an earlier decision of the Upper Tribunal, that a landlord has a right of appeal under paragraph 6(3) of Schedule 7 to the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 as a ‘person affected’ by a housing benefit decision in respect of its tenant only in the distinct cases provided for in subordinate legislation, and did not have a general right of appeal against all housing benefit decisions.
Jenni Richards QC and Josephine Norris were instructed by Morris Hill of Weightmans.