Crossing the line – what happens when the Care Act meets housing duties
Campbell, R (On the Application Of) v London Borough of Ealing (2023) EWHC 10 (Admin) This judicial review concerns the relationship between the Care Act 2014 and housing legislation, in particular the...
View ArticleHomelessness and Allocation – unlawfully restricting reasonable preference
Khayyat & Anor v Westminster City Council (2023) EWHC 30 (Admin) A judicial review by two claimants of Westminster’s allocation policy and its restriction of entry to the housing register to only...
View ArticleUnravelling a mental health moratorium
Kaye v Lees (2023) EWHC 152 (KB) We’ve seen previous instalments in this matter here and here. The result of those was that Mr Kaye’s eviction of Ms Lees after a charging order and order for sale was...
View ArticleMea Culpa
I know, I know. Updates have been thin on the ground. I’m afraid it is the ‘work and life getting in the way’ thing again. I’ve got a lot on my plate and no time and/or energy to do case notes. So, in...
View ArticleRent Repayment Orders – just the immediate landlord
Rakusen v Jepsen & Ors (2023) UKSC 9 The issue for the Supreme Court was whether the wording of section 40 and 41 Housing and Planning Act 2016 meant that a rent repayment order could be made...
View ArticleContempt and Conduct of Litigation
Baxter v Doble & Anor (2023) EWHC 486 (KB) This was an application for committal for contempt of court for provision of legal services by a person not entitled to do so, arising out of a possession...
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Overlooking – an overview
Heavily litigated airspace Fearn & Ors v Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery (2023) UKSC 4 A belated note on the Supreme Court decision on nuisance and overlooking. You’ll all know the result by...
View ArticleHow to Rent Guide – new version
DLUHC has today (24 March 2023) issued a revised version of the How to Rent guide. This is important because for any post 1 October 2015 assured shorthold tenancy, or ‘renewal’ tenancy (where the guide...
View ArticleTime to respond to ‘minded to’ letters, and getting affordability right
Our grateful thanks to Alice Irving of Doughty Street Chambers for this note of a section 204 appeal decision, which is interesting in the approach to representations in response to ‘minded to’...
View ArticleLocation, location, location (and getting discharge of duty right)
Zaman v London Borough of Waltham Forest and Uduezue v Bexley LBC (2023) EWCA Civ 322 These were two joined second appeals from section 204 appeals, both on the issue of whether the local authorities...
View ArticleIllegal eviction – attempted or accomplished?
Wu v Chelmsford City Council (2023) EWCA Crim 338 Not something we see very often, an appeal from a conviction for illegal eviction (not that we see many convictions for illegal eviction in the first...
View ArticleNo surrender
City of Westminster Council v Kazam & Anor (2023) EWHC 825 (KB) It is always the joint tenancies that cause problems… This was an appeal of a first instance decision dismissing a claim for...
View ArticleLocal authority serving notices – requirements
Birmingham City Council v Bravington (2023) EWCA Civ 308 A quick one – A possession claim under s.84A Housing Act 1985 requires service of a notice under section 83ZA. In this case: The respondent, Mr...
View ArticleSnoring is not ASB, not even in Lambeth.
LB Lambeth v Fanfair, County Court at Clerkenwell & Shoreditch, 14 February 2023 Our grateful thanks to Angharad Monk of Garden Court and Gurminder Birdi at Cambridge House Law Centre for this note...
View ArticleSuitability review – excluding information, and ending existing accommodation.
Querino v Cambridge City Council. County Court at Cambridge, 29 March 2023 Continuing the trend (of which I wholeheartedly approve) of people sending me notes of judgments, the following is a note of a...
View ArticleSuitability duties and reasonable preferences that weren’t unreasonable
Jaberi, R (On the Application Of) v City of Westminster (Re Housing Act 1996) (2023) EWHC 1045 (Admin) A judicial review on three grounds: i) Breach of section 193(2) Housing Act 1996 duty to secure...
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Renters (Reform) Bill – the good, the potentially good and the ugly. Part 1
It is finally here, a mere five years from first being promised. The Renters (Reform) Bill has started its parliamentary journey today (17 May). As it stands, it is the largest reform to tenancies in...
View ArticleRenters (Reform) Bill – overview Part 2
Following on from yesterday (17 May) publication of the Renters (Reform) Bill and Part 1 of my overview of what the Bill does, onwards to the rest of it… Pets! There has been a lot of fuss about this,...
View ArticleOdds and ends
A few snippets of cases of interest: Healey v Fraine & Ors (2023) EWCA Civ 549 Confirmation by the Court of Appeal, if confirmation was needed, that one can’t be simultaneously in occupation as a...
View ArticleMental Health Crisis Moratoriums – issues for debt advisors to consider?
Kaye v Lees (2023) EWHC 758 (KB) We saw an injunction being made to prevent Ms Lees from seeking a further mental health crisis moratorium here. In this judgment, Mr Kaye had sought an extension of...
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