John Howe v Brent London Borough Council
[2024] EWCA Civ 1444
Yisroel Weintraub v London Borough of Hackney
16 April 2024
[2024] EWHC 845 (Ch)
High Court
An elderly man couldn't sleep alone in his council flat, so he slept at his daughter's. The council said he couldn't buy the flat because he didn't live there. The court decided he could buy the flat because he planned to move back in after buying it, clarifying that even if the return to primary home is conditional on the right-to-buy process being completed, the intention to return is sufficient as long as the intention is real and genuine.
Key Facts
- •Rabbi Weintraub and his late wife had a secure tenancy of a council flat since 2002.
- •After his wife's death, he struggled to find overnight companions and started sleeping elsewhere (mostly at his daughter's house).
- •He applied to buy the flat under the Housing Act 1985, but the council refused, stating he didn't reside there as his principal home.
- •He brought a claim, which was dismissed, leading to this appeal.
Legal Principles
A tenant must occupy the dwelling as their only or principal home to qualify for a right to buy under the Housing Act 1985.
Housing Act 1985, s.81
Absence from a dwelling doesn't automatically mean cessation of occupation as a home; intention to return and outward signs are key factors.
Islington LBC v Boyle [2011] EWCA Civ 1450, Dove v Havering LBC [2017] EWCA Civ 156
To determine a dwelling is not a principal home, another property must be identified as the principal home.
Inferred from the court's reasoning
Intention to return must be a ‘real hope coupled with the practical possibility of its fulfilment within a reasonable time.’
Robert Thackary’s Estates Ltd v Kaye (1989) 21 H.L.R. 160, Tickner v Hearn [1960] 1 WLR 1406
Outcomes
Appeal allowed.
The judge erred in finding the flat wasn't Rabbi Weintraub's principal home, failing to adequately consider his intention to return after completing the right-to-buy process. The court determined his daughter's house was his principal home during the period in question.