Monthly Archive for November, 2007

Page 2 of 3

Not the usual bug infestation

By NL on 14/11/2007. 0 Comments

Hat tip to Cearta.ie for this extraordinary story from the Irish Times:

Landladies ordered to pay students €115,000 in damages
Simon Carswell 14 November 2007

Two Dublin landladies have been ordered to pay damages totalling more than €115,000 to 10 students who were tenants in their house after the Circuit Court found they had kept the students under secret electronic surveillance. …

The students became concerned in late 2004 that their conversations and activities were being monitored when the McKennas referred to details the students had discussed in private in the house. When they raised the issue with the McKennas, the students were evicted. … Judge Gerard Griffin yesterday found

… Read the full post

Posted in Assured Shorthold tenancy, Housing law - All, Nuisance and Unlawful eviction and harassment. Tags: , , , , , .

All back to mine

By NL on 08/11/2007. 0 Comments

After yesterday’s note, an all too brief comment on an interesting Court of Appeal case defended by the firm of a regular reader/commenter, William Flack of Flack & Co.

Wandsworth v Randall [2007] EWCA Civ 1126

The situation – son succeeds to a parent’s secure tenancy on their death. The son is, at that point, the sole occupant of a 4 bedroom house. Over six months later the Council issue a Notice Seeking Possession on Ground 16 Schedule 2 Housing Act 1985 – under-occupancy by a successor. The Council offered a one bed flat as suitable alternative accommodation, which was refused by the tenant. Before proceedings were issued, the tenant’s … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All, secure-tenancy and Succession. Tags: , , , .

Housing case flood

By NL on 07/11/2007. 0 Comments

Just a note. Comments to follow, asap.

Court of Appeal:

Wandsworth v Randall [2007] EWCA Civ 1126
Succession and possession for under-occupation.

London Borough of Southwark v Dennett [2007] EWCA Civ 1091
Right to Buy, Delay and Misfeasance in Public Office

Administrative Court:

Casey, R (on the application of) v Restormel Borough Council [2007] EWHC 2554
Homelessness, Judicial Review applications, ex-parte injunctions and delay in the Admin Court.… Read the full post

Posted in Homeless, Housing law - All, Possession, right-to-buy, secure-tenancy and Succession. Tags: , , , , , .

Statistics can be fun at the SHLA

By NL on 06/11/2007. 0 Comments

The Social Housing Law Association has released a ‘Policy Statement’ on the need for legal aid reform. Briefly, they claim that far too many weak cases are brought against social landlords by legally aided tenants and that the subsequent litigation costs to social landlords are unfair as s.11 protection means the landlord cannot recoup their costs even if they ‘win’. They want a tougher merits test by the LSC and, as a sweetner, suggest compensating by lifting the means test limit.

How they support this allegation about ‘weak cases’ being brought willy-nilly, apart from extreme hypotheticals, is by an attempt at statistics. This is what they say:

One way of

… Read the full post

Posted in Disrepair and Housing law - All. Tags: , , , .

Ooops – disproportionate strike-out

By NL on 05/11/2007. 0 Comments

A certain amount of amusement has been circulating around London housing firms at the Court of Appeal judgment in London Borough of Southwark -v- Onayomake [2007] EWCA Civ 1426 (Bailii link, or link to WLR case note here, but may only be briefly freely available).

Or perhaps Schadenfreude would be the more accurate term. Mr Onayomake had a substantive defence and counterclaim to a possession claim on the basis of succession. Southwark said, slightly bizarrely, he was a tolerated trespasser. DJ Zimmels at Lambeth County Court gave directions for a fast track trial, including filing Pre Trial Checklists. The Defendant’s solicitors failed to file on time. A … Read the full post

Posted in Housing law - All, secure-tenancy and Succession. Tags: , , , , .

Control Orders and secret evidence

By NL on 04/11/2007. 0 Comments

I was going to do a fairly long post on the House of Lords judgments in JJ and others, MB and AF, and E, but time went against me, and Head of Legal has some good posts on the issue, here, here and here.

So I just want to note that in MB, the House of Lords went some way towards ending the loathsome, offensive and unjust practice of control orders being made on the basis of secret evidence never put to the Defendant, whose only representation would be a ‘special advocate’ unable to take the client’s instruction.

Unfortunately, the majority only went as far … Read the full post

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

Convicted – Evicted

By NL on 01/11/2007. 0 Comments

Raglan Housing Association Ltd v Fairclough [2007] EWCA Civ 1087.

Basically, Housing Act 1988 Schedule 2 Ground 14 (b) means that if if you have been convicted of

an indictable offence committed in, or in the locality of, the dwelling-house

the discretionary ground for possession is made out, regardless of whether you were a tenant, or indeed lived in the specific property at the time the offence was committed.

LJ Chadwick goes further in obiter, suggesting that it isn’t even necessary to be a tenant at the time of the conviction for Ground 14(b) to bite. Eh? So a conviction prior to the grant of tenancy could be ground … Read the full post

Posted in assured-tenancy, Housing law - All and Possession. Tags: , , , .
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