Begum v Tower Hamlets London Borough Council [2003] UKHL 5

Defendant accepted that Plaintiff was homeless and that it had a duty to make her a reasonable offer of accommodation. It offered her a flat, which she contended was unsuitable since the area was characterised by racism and she said that she had been attacked shortly after visiting the flat.

LA did an internal review and said that it was suitable accommodation.

HL said that clearly the LA council officers were not an independent tribunal for the purposes of ECHR. However such a decision might properly be made by a tribunal which did not itself possess the necessary independence to satisfy the requirements of Article 6(1) so long as measures were in place to safeguard the fairness of the proceedings and the decision was subject to ultimate judicial control by a court.

Because of how detailed this particular statutory scheme was and the fact that it was subject to judicial review rendered it sufficiently fair to come within Article 6.