Hilary Lukats V London Borough Of Hillingdon (2012) 13/6/12 (SC035/11/00485)
Public Law and Judicial Review
The First-tier tribunal set aside the local authority’s decision of the 9 July 2008 that there had been a housing benefit overpayment of £32,279.74 which was recoverable from Mrs Lukats, the landlord. They had issued a similar decision against the tenant (the landlord’s brother) on the 19 April 2007 and his appeal, which had not involved Mrs Lukats, was dismissed on the 4 July 2008. The tribunal was not prepared to consider the substantive question of whether there had been an overpayment at all (Mrs Lukats denied she resided in the same dwelling as her brother for most of the overpayment period) in the light of the earlier tribunal decision but did agree that the issuing of two separate decision notices was a defective practice and therefore, in line with R(H) 6/06, set aside the 9 July decision.
