El Yemlahi v Lambeth London Borough Council
In August 1999 Mr and Mrs El Yemlahi applied as homeless to Lambeth and were provided with temporary accommodation.

The El Yemlahis were also eligible for permanent housing allocation and were added to the one-bedroom waiting list; by spring 2001 they had risen to 28th place.

But in September 2001, they were moved to the two-bedroom list – at the bottom – because Mrs El Yemlahi was pregnant. By October 2001, they had only reached 627th place with a prospective wait of at least two years.

They claimed that this system, under which their housing need had increased but their prospects of an offer of permanent housing had reduced, was irrational and therefore illegal.

The judge dismissed their claim. The scheme was designed to prevent people at the top of a particular list repeatedly being pushed back by people joining from other lists. That objective was not irrational; it avoided unfairness to others.

Source

Housing Today

Reference

Date order allocation schemes remain vulnerable to challenge if they fail to allow reasonable preferences to those in need. Whether Lambeth's scheme fails in that respect was recently reviewed in the appeal court. It will be covered here soon.