Becoming Intentionally Homeless: Your Rights

If you walk out of your marriage, and have nowhere to live, are you intentionally homeless? Broadly speaking, it is up to your local authority to prove that you have made yourself intentionally homeless. The council has to make its own enquiries into what happened and in order to prove that you have made yourself intentionally homeless, they have to decide that you have done the following:

• You did something deliberate, or didn’t do something deliberately, and
• What you did made you leave your home, and
• If you hadn’t done (or not doe this) you could have stayed in your home, and
• In the circumstances, you could reasonably have stayed in your home otherwise.

If some but not all of the four elements above are satisfied, then you are not intentionally homeless in law and the council should give you the benefit of the doubt.

Deliberate Acts or Omissions

This could be one of several things, such as not paying the rent or mortgage when you had enough money to be able to do so, or because you were evicted because of antisocial behaviour; or just because you left accommodation that you could have stayed in if you had wanted to do so. If you were evicted or your home was repossessed because of financial difficulties that you could not avoid, you should not be considered to be intentionally homeless.

Similarly if your partner is responsible for paying the rent or mortgage, and you had no clue that this had happened – you may not be intentionally homeless but your partner could be. If you were evicted as a result of something your child did, as a parent you are generally considered responsible for your child’s actions so this could mean that you are intentionally homeless.

Could You Have Stayed?

This is the key issue for those who have left their homes as a result of the break down of their relationship. You will only be considered intentionally homeless if you left and it was unreasonable for you to do so. This means that if you were being threatened, someone in your household was being threatened (your child, or someone else) or you were suffering violence, you have probably not made yourself intentionally homeless.

Interestingly, a recent court case in the Supreme Court has now ruled that being shouted at by your spouse, if the shouting was sufficient to be perceived as a threat, then you may not be intentionally homeless. In the recent groundbreaking case, the Supreme court ruled that shouting abusively at a husband or wife counts as ‘domestic violence’ and as such can mean that the abusive party can lose their home. In this particular case, the woman had never been physically harmed by her husband, but he had shouted at her, criticized her, and gave her no housekeeping. She was perpetually afraid that her husband would take the children away from her. The court decided that this behaviour was abusive enough to be classed as domestic violence. Needless to say, this ruling has caused quite a lot of controversy amongst lawyers and those working alongside families in social services, amongst others.

The Property Itself

If the state of your property is such as to be seriously affecting your health, you may be unintentionally homeless. This also applies to houses that are of an extremely poor quality in comparison with similar homes in the area, or if you could not afford to live in the property unless you went without other necessities, such as food, heating or electricity.

If you are at risk of losing your home, or if you are considering leaving your home, you should take legal advice without delay. If you are due to be evicted, or you have been told that your house is going to be repossessed, the advice is generally to stay until this happens.