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Section 58: Homelessness and threatened homelessness.

Housing Act 1985 · 1985 c. 68View on legislation.gov.uk

Part III: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A person is homeless if he has no accommodation in England, Wales or Scotland.

A person shall be treated as having no accommodation if there is no accommodation which he, together with any other person who normally resides with him as a member of his family or in circumstances in which it is reasonable for that person to reside with him—

is entitled to occupy by virtue of an interest in it or by virtue of an order of a court, or
has an express or implied licence to occupy, or Scotland has a right or permission or an implied right or permission to occupy, or
occupies as a residence by virtue of any enactment or rule of law giving him the right to remain in occupation or restricting the right of another person to recover possession.

A person shall not be treated as having accommodation unless it is accommodation which it would be reasonable for him to continue to occupy.

Regard may be had, in determining whether it would be reasonable for a person to continue to occupy accommodation, to the general circumstances prevailing in relation to housing in the district of the local housing authority to whom he has applied for accommodation or for assistance in obtaining accommodation.

A person is also homeless if he has accommodation but—

he cannot secure entry to it, or
it is probable that occupation of it will lead to violence from some other person residing in it or to threats of violence from some other person residing in it and likely to carry out the threats, or
it consists of a movable structure, vehicle or vessel designed or adapted for human habitation and there is no place where he is entitled or permitted both to place it and to reside in it.

A person is threatened with homelessness if it is likely that he will become homeless within 28 days.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.