Not 2017
I was going to do the usual roundup of the year post, but frankly, it was all too depressing. You all know what has happened, hasn’t happened and ought to have happened. About that best that can be...
View ArticleProtection from neighbours – no duty
CN & Anor v Poole Borough Council (2017) EWCA Civ 2185 What, if any, duty is owed by a local authority to children to protect them from abuse and harassment by neighbours? This court of appeal...
View ArticleBeach huts: chattels, leases, estoppel
Gilpin and ors v Legg [2017] EWHC 3220 (Ch) is a gift (at least to land law examiners) that is going to keep on giving. This is not just because of the claims discussed – whether beach huts were...
View ArticleFitness for Habitation – now with Govt support.
I am delighted, and delighted for Karen Buck MP, to be able to say that her Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation and Liability for Housing Standards) Bill now has government support as well as that of...
View Article‘How to rent’ Guide updated – important for all PRS landlords and tenants
A quick note to highlight that the MHCLG ‘How to rent’ booklet was updated on 17 January 2018. Apparently this was just to remove references to the ‘London Rental Standard’. However, this is still...
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Fitness for Human Habitation is go!
The Homes (Fitness for Habitation and Liability for Housing Standards) Bill passed second reading on 19 January, with a unanimous vote. The debate (interrupted by a Ministerial statement) is here and...
View ArticleA failure to engage –‘Medical advisors’ on homeless vulnerability
Cherry v LB Tower Hamlets. County Court at Central London, 11th January 2018 This is a s.204 appeal of a ‘not vulnerable’ review decision by LB Tower Hamlets. It is of particular interest because of...
View ArticleThat was the week that was – deposits, provision of prescribed information,...
There is a backlog of significant cases to be written up, I know. I have been a bit busy… But here are some snippets of interest that have come my way over the last week. Fees for Tenancy Deposit...
View ArticleFrom the county courts
With grateful thanks as ever to the Legal Action Magazine Housing: Recent Developments section for information on these (and they are not noted till those reports are publicly accessible), a couple of...
View ArticleNews bits
A post on a significant gas certificate/s.21 case will follow shortly, but for now a couple of news items… Regulations have been made bringing the Homelessness Reduction Act into force on 3 April 2018....
View ArticleBreaching licensing and proceeds of crime
(Our thanks to Spencer Turner for this guest post) Brent Council v Shah and Others, unreported 29 January 2018 (Crown Ct (Harrow)) The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (‘POCA’) has been successfully used by...
View ArticleI can serve this only once – gas safety certificates
Caridon Property Ltd v Monty Shooltz. Central London County Court. 2 February 2018 (from note of judgment) First our thanks to Matthew Cannings of 3 Paper Buildings for note of judgment and Richard...
View ArticleChildren Act and Housing – (not) joining the dots.
J and L, R (on the application of) v London Borough of Hillingdon (2017) EWHC 3411 (Admin) This is a very interesting judicial review, concerning the interrelation of a council’s housing duties under...
View ArticleHomelessness Reduction Act Code of Guidance (mostly) out
MHCLG has published the Statutory Code of Guidance for the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, with just over a month to go until it is in force (3 April 2018). 25 chapters and one...
View Article‘Can’t Pay..’ will have to pay.
Ali and Aslam v Channel 5 Broadcast Ltd (2018) EWHC 298 (Ch) I won’t go into detail – do read the judgment for the oddest mashup of housing law, media law and privacy law we have encountered (so far) –...
View ArticleThere can be only one!
The MHCLG have announced a consultation ‘Strengthening consumer redress in the housing market’, which primarily about reviewing and reforming Ombudsman schemes in the housing sector, with the proposal...
View Article‘No DSS’ and discrimination
The BBC ran a new report today on a case in Birmingham. The headline – “Landlords who say ‘no DSS’ breaking equality laws” – was, as we shall see, somewhat misleading, but the report did indeed cover a...
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Oh the Humanity!
‘Humanity Torbay’ is apparently a charitable incorporated organisation, and one that has worthy, if semi literate, aims. So it would be a little surprising to find Humanity Torbay being described as...
View ArticlePromises, promises: Estoppel in the West Country
As we University academics are currently on strike (pension cuts – see today’s report and this Guardian article), I can catch up on a little blogging as a form of “teaching out”. While Bristol...
View ArticlePossession and section 11, Children Act 2004
In Davies v Hertfordshire CC [2018] EWCA Civ 379, the Court of Appeal addressed the question of the relevance of s 11, Children Act 2004 on a mandatory possession claim brought by Herts against Mr...
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