Round up of housing law and news: December 2025

Legislation

Change in legal aid fees.

Increases to legal aid fees

From 22 December 2025, housing legal aid fee rates in London increased to £69.30 per hour in London and £65.35 per hour outside of London.

Civil Legal Aid (Procedure and Remuneration) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 S.I. 2025/1248

Case law

Housing needs assessments, deliberate acts and intentional homelessness and banding reviews.

Unlawful housing needs assessment

The High Court held that a local authority acted unlawfully when completing a housing needs assessment. The applicant was trafficking survivor with mental health difficulties and young children who was residing in London. The authority offered the applicant accommodation in Durham.

The court found that the local authority treated the applicant's wish to remain in London as a preference rather than a need. The authority had failed to consider the risk of re-trafficking and did not consider the applicant's support network.

The Court quashed the interim accommodation decision.

MKM, R (on the application of) v The London Borough of Ealing [2025] EWHC 3182 (Admin)

Mental health and intentional homelessness

The Court of Appeal held that a local authority acted lawfully in finding a homeless applicant to be intentionally homeless. The applicant suffered with serious mental health issues and gave up his tenancy due to alleged anti-social behaviour.

The test for intentional homelessness for a deliberate act refers to the act itself, and does not mean the applicant must have intended to become homeless.

The court held that the act of ending the tenancy was deliberate and the authority's decision was upheld.

City of London Corporation v Bussandra [2025] EWCA Civ 1580

Summary judgment overturned after appeal filed on paper

The County Court held that the local authority's notice had been filed in paper form at the High Court and that this was sufficient and the appeal was brought in time. The judge was not satisfied that the rules required appeals from the County Court to the High Court to be filed electronically under the electronic working pilot scheme (EWPS).

The summary judgment was set aside and the possession claim could continue.

Sandwell BC v Harris County Court (Walsall) | [2025] EWCC 71 | 10 Dec 2025

First-tier Tribunal must assess if conditions for housing costs met

The Upper Tribunal found the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) made an error in law by failing to make further inquiries after a claimant was held not to be entitled to the housing costs element of universal credit.

The claimant appealed to the FTT and provided a copy of their tenancy agreement and bank statements. The FTT found inconsistencies but did not make further inquiries into whether the claimant was entitled to the housing costs element.

SB v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

News and guidance

National plan to end homelessness, changes to the Homelessness Code of Guidance and consultation for Online Procedure Rules.

National plan to end homelessness

The government have pledged to end unlawful use of B&B accommodation for families and halve the number of people sleeping rough by the end of parliament.

The policy lays out short, medium and long term changes to achieve the newly set national target. This includes:

• setting a national target to halve rough sleeping by the end of this parliament

• investing £3.5 billion in homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next three years

• building 1.5 million homes

Read the National Plan to End Homelessness at Gov.uk.

Consultation for online procedure rules

The government have launched a consultation to collect views and comments on the Online Procedure Rules. Possession claims will be the first type of claim that the rules apply to. The rules are currently under development with the goal of being used in England and Wales for all possession claims.

The consultation closes on 15 January 2026.

Read more about the consultation at Gov.uk.

Updates to the Homelessness Code of Guidance

The homelessness code of guidance paragraph 7.41 has been updated to cover changes in guidance on managing applications for homelessness assistance for EU nationals with pre-settled status who are not exercising a relevant right to reside.

These changes come after the Borders Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 2 December 2025.

Read the updated Homelessness Code of Guidance at Gov.uk.

Claimants given option to object to direct payments to landlords

The DWP has updated its guidance on where the landlord requests that the housing costs element of universal credit is paid directly to them. If the DWP believes the request is eligible, it will alert the claimant to sign into their account and respond.

The claimant will be given seven days to object to the managed payment.

Read the updated Alternative payment arrangements (APAs) guidance at Gov.uk.

Data and trends

Data on homelessness in England, social housing allocations and the private rented sector.

English Private Landlord Survey 2024

The government have released the latest survey of private landlords. The survey monitors how landlord's acquire, let and manage their properties. The survey shows that:

• the number of households in the private sector rose by 52% between 2023 and 2024, from 3.1 million to 4.7 million

• 26% of landlords said they identified damp or mould in at least one of their properties in the last year

• 36% of landlords said they asked for rent in advance

• 14% of landlords said they asked for a guarantor

Read the results of the English Private Landlord Survey 2024 at Gov.uk.

Over half of teachers in England work with children who are homeless

Shocking new research from Shelter analyses the scale of homelessness in the UK with particular attention to the impact of homelessness on children. The data shows that:

• Three quarters (76%) of the teachers who responded said that being homeless had led to children performing poorly in assessments or exams

• Nine in ten (92%) respondents said children experiencing homelessness have arrived at school tired

• Over eight in ten (83%) said that children have missed days of school

The number of children homeless in England is taken from Shelter’s Annual Homelessness Report 2025.

Read the Homeless in England report at Shelter.org.uk

Report on social housing allocations

Crisis have published research on how social housing is being allocated. The data has been obtained by surveying 68 housing associations in England. The key findings show that:

• 24% of households below a certain income threshold are sometimes excluded from the social housing register

• 31% of pre-tenancy checks lead to an offer of social housing being deemed unsuitable

• 24% of housing associations reported refusing local authority nominations because the offer was unsuitable

Read the Moving the deckchairs social housing allocation research at Crisis.org.uk