This is how it ends, not with a bang but a viewing.
If I am honest, this is not how I anticipated the apocalypse to look. The streets deserted apart from roving estate agents, dead eyes above the mask, looking for someone, anyone, to force into a...
View ArticleChildren getting older as ‘unnatural increase’ for overcrowding
Flores, R (on the application of) v London Borough of Southwark (2020) EWHC 1279 (Admin) This was a judicial review of Southwark’s allocation decision on the priority to be given to a family in...
View ArticleHomelessness in Wales
I am quite late covering this, but on 28 April 2020, the Welsh Government issued new statutory guidance on homelessness (Part 2, Housing (Wales) Act 2014) and coronavirus. It is excellent. Not just...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What to do, what to do, what to do?
The Housing, Communities and Local Government Commons Select Committee has published an interim report on protecting rough sleepers and renters through the Coronavirus pandemic. The key recommendations...
View ArticleWhen 52 is also 51 because 55.
London Borough of Hackney v Okoro (2020) EWCA Civ 681 An appeal to the Court of Appeal on the issue of whether appeals of possession orders (or indeed appeals from Part 55 possession proceedings...
View ArticleThe teenage years
Astonishingly, Nearly Legal is at its 14th birthday. The blog started in June 2006. That is 14 years I’ve spent on this site, man woman and child. Forgive me if in these fevered and increasingly...
View ArticleFlaming June
A couple of notes for the first of June. (It looks lovely out there, but if 6 socially distanced people from separate households turn up in my block’s communal gardens I will Not Be Happy). The Tenant...
View ArticleShine on you crazy Dymond*
Croydon London Borough Council v Kalonga (2020) EWHC 1353 (QB) Flexible tenancies. We always said they were a bad idea. This was a determination of a possession claim brought by Croydon LBC against Ms...
View ArticleDelays and duties and human rights
Idolo, R (on the application of) v London Borough of Bromley (2020) EWHC 860 (Admin) I’m a bit late to this one (ironically, as it turns out), it has been an open browser tab for ages, sorry. It is a...
View ArticleReasons to be cheerless, part 3
Gil v London Borough of Camden (2020) EWHC 735 (QB) This was an application for permission to appeal the dismissal of a s.204 appeal for being out of time. (It was either one or two days out of time,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
PD 51Z stay on possession claims to be extended – newsflash
Late on Friday afternoon, Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State for Housing, tweeted BREAKING NEWS FOR RENTERS We are suspending evictions from social & private rented accommodation by a further two...
View ArticleNot not Nemcova
Triplerose Ltd v Beattie & Anor (LANDLORD AND TENANT – BREACH OF COVENANT) (2020) UKUT 180 (LC) Another Upper Tribunal decision to add to the now large pile of cases on airbnb/short let use and...
View ArticleHypothetical children and bedrooms
SSWP V WT and Redcar and Cleveland BC (HB) (2019) UKUT 372 (AAC) Very late to this one (I missed it) but a brief note on a doomed attempt in the Upper Tribunal to challenge The Secretary of State for...
View ArticleHere comes the new stay, same as the old stay
There is more detail on the stay of possession proceedings that will replace Practice Direction 51Z on 25 June 2020. But first there is an amendment to PD 51Z. The amendment came out today, 11 June...
View ArticleEnding it all – duties under section 188
Mitchell, R (On the Application Of) v London Borough of Islington (2020) EWHC 1478 (Admin) Where a local authority has an initial s.188 Housing Act 1996 duty to provide interim accommodation, but then...
View ArticleThe Trecarrell Conundrum
Trecarrell House Limited v Rouncefield (2020) EWCA Civ 760 It is fair to say this Court of Appeal decision has been widely and keenly awaited. Unfortunately, for reasons I will explain in my comment...
View ArticleThe Electrical Safety Dance
On 1 June 2020, we noted here that The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 had a bit of a quirk. The regulations applied to all ‘new specified tenancies’...
View ArticleI want it all.
Vadamalayan v Stewart and others (2020) UKUT 0183 (LC) The Upper Tribunal (Land Chamber) changes the ground rules on rent repayment orders… Ms Stewart and others were tenants of Mr V. The property was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
News bits – homelessness policies
A couple of news items, both relating to homelessness policies. First, following a judicial review challenge, LB Lambeth has agreed to end its ‘Temp2Settled’ Scheme. Under this scheme, since 2014,...
View ArticleUnfurnished temporary accommodation – is it suitable?
Escott, R (On the application of) v Chichester District Council (2020) EWHC 1687 (Admin) A judicial review where the relevant parts played out in the early stages of the pandemic lockdown, and where...
View Article