London's Southwark Council Faces Fresh Legal Challenge Over Housing Allocations Policy

Southwark Council in London is facing a fresh legal challenge over its housing allocations policy, specialist housing publication Inside Housing reported on October 30. The Public Interest Law Centre (PILC), a legal charity, has started judicial review proceedings on behalf of Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth (HASL), over concerns the allocations policy risks worsening overcrowding.

The first revision of the scheme in a decade

Southwark Council agreed a new housing allocations scheme in March 2025, the first time the policy had been revised for a decade. The council primarily operates a choice-based letting system, under which applicants bid for advertised properties, but it also reserves the right to make direct offers to people in urgent housing need. The claimants argue the scheme's arrangements risk worsening overcrowding; the case is at the stage of judicial review proceedings being started, and no court ruling has been made.

What happens next

Whether the judicial review proceeds to a substantive hearing, and whether a court finds the policy unlawful, will decide whether Southwark's housing allocation rules have to change. Any change to the allocation rules would directly affect families waiting for council housing. The council's response to the claim was not disclosed in the report; the case is one to watch.