Monthly Archive for January, 2007

But I hardly know you

By NL on 29/01/2007. 0 Comments

Why do people do it? Why do they sign up for joint tenancies with private landlords together with people they have only just met?

I’m sure it all seems terribly exciting, but what are you letting yourself in for with your shiny new shorthold assured tenancy?

You and all the joint tenants are ‘jointly and severally’ liable for the rent. This means you are each liable for all the rent. If your instant friend stops paying rent, the landlord can come after you for it, even if you have been ‘paying your share’. The Landlord can claim it from you, all the tenants or any of the tenants, whichever option … Read the full post

Posted in Assured Shorthold tenancy and Housing law - All. Tags: , , , .

Human Rights and possession claims after Kay v Lambeth

By NL on 28/01/2007. 12 Comments

The House of Lords decision in Kay v Lambeth [2006] UKHL 10 addressed Human Rights defences to possession claims, attempting to unify Harrow v Qazi [2004] 1 AC and the subsequent European Court judgement in Connors v United Kingdom [2004] 40 EHRR 189.

Qazi effectively ruled out a human rights defence to possession based upon Article 8 where domestic law had been complied with.

Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides that

1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.

2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right

… Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All, Licences and occupiers and Possession. Tags: , , , , , .

An exercise in avoiding the point

By NL on 28/01/2007. 0 Comments

In an adjournment debate on Legal Aid reforms on 11 January 07, the following exchange took place:

Ms Karen Buck (Regent’s Park and Kensington, North) (Lab): The Minister said that 60 per cent. of cases will generate more income, and that is the key point, which I suspect will be reiterated several times by those who are lucky enough to catch your eye, Sir Nicholas. Our core point—certainly for those on the Labour Benches—is that the 40 per cent. of cases that do not generate more income will be disproportionately concentrated in areas where providers deal with the most vulnerable people and the most complex cases. Sadly, we have not

… Read the full post

Posted in Various (non-housing). Tags: , .

The way we live now

By NL on 27/01/2007. 0 Comments

I left this search query out of the last post because the more I thought about it, the more it seemed that this query, and the fact that someone put it into a search engine, somehow crystalised something of Britain in the noughties…

supervising the passive agressive employee

… Read the full post

Posted in Various (non-housing). Tags: .

Obvious filler 3

By NL on 26/01/2007. 0 Comments

I’m having a think about a post on housing law and human rights, but I am busy, tired and having to stand up on the train.

In a week that brought us exposed judges, the inadvertent end of solitary confinement as the jails fill up, John Reid begging for non-custodial sentences and senior judges objecting to reforms of rape trials, naturally I am reverting to part several of the lazy (busy, tired) blogger’s standby, questions that brought people here, woven into a zeitgeist by Nearly Legal.

First, I am of course proud to have a blog that brings in searchers for

copyright problem of originality in photographs

as well as… Read the full post

Posted in Various (non-housing). Tags: .

Difficult decisions

By NL on 21/01/2007. 0 Comments

This weekend, my partner and I were trying to work out what we were going to do with the salsify that turned up in our organic box. It was a step into the unknown which caused some debate, so I have sympathy with John Reid and Charlie Falconer trying to work out whether the Home Office is better as one unit or two.

We settled for a fish soup for using the salsify. Having made that decision, I feel competent to say that splitting the Home Office is probably a good idea. However, the outcome of both decisions remains to be seen.… Read the full post

Posted in Various (non-housing). Tags: .

Done and seen to be done.

By NL on 20/01/2007. 0 Comments

Amidst the detritus of Mayors celebrating evictions for anti social behaviour and the dawn arrest of the PM’s political liasion officer, I was struck by two things.

One is that Ruth Turner, in common with most of the political class, doesn’t know the meaning of ‘refute’. Ms Turner, you didn’t refute, you repudiated.

More seriously, Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General, announced that he will not stand aside from advising the CPS on the ‘cash for honours’ case and even slapped the wrist of Charlie Falconer, Lord Chancellor, for having suggested that he would.

So, a personal friend of the Prime Minister, who attends cabinet meetings and gives legal advice to … Read the full post

Posted in Various (non-housing). Tags: , .
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