Monthly Archive for November, 2008

FSA's repo warning

By Dave on 28/11/2008. 1 Comment

The FSA has issued a warning letter to all mortgage lenders and mortgage administrators advising them to get their houses in order, so to speak, over possession actions and arrears management. This is in line with the rather underdeveloped (publicly at least), but important, FSA regulations on Treating Customers Fairly (which is more like a principle-based agenda than regulation) as well as the recent statement by Darling (discussed here) and the pre-action protocol (discussed here). The letter is wonderfully worded, the meat of which is

… we expect that your firm would want to review its own policies and procedures, to ensure they are compatible with both MCOB

… Read the full post

Posted in Housing law - All and Mortgage possession. Tags: , .

The powers of the appellate court

By J on 28/11/2008. 1 Comment

Admiral Taverns (Cygnet) Ltd v Daniel and another [2008] EWHC 1688 (QB), and [2008] EWCA Civ 1501.

We seem to have missed this important case when it was at High Court level. Sorry about that. An appeal against the High Court judgment has just been dismissed by the Court of Appeal and is now available online here.

The defendants were occupiers of residential property owned by the claimant. The defendants occupied under a “caretaking” agreement with the claimant. The claimant subsequently sought to bring that agreement to an end and issued possession proceedings. The defendants appears to have defended the case (or indicated an intention to defend) … Read the full post

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

The Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 – an update

By J on 28/11/2008. 0 Comments

Two new Statutory Instruments have just come out relating to this Act, and, given that I’m updating my seminar notes about the 2008 Act, I thought I’d share them with you.

The Allocation of Housing (England) (Amendment) (Family Intervention Tenancies) Regulations 2008 deal with the interaction between the new Family Intervention Tenancy (“FIT”)in the 2008 Act and Part 6, Housing Act 1996. In broad terms, Part 6 of the 1996 Act, and the subordinate SIs, deal with the rules and procedure for the allocation of property by local housing authorities.

What the 2008 SI does is to disapply Part 6 in relation to the FIT, so that any local housing … Read the full post

Posted in Allocation, ASB, Housing law - All and Regulation and planning. Tags: , , , , , , .

Sad News

By NL on 26/11/2008. 4 Comments

We are saddened to be told of the untimely death of Bob Lawrence. Some of us knew him, some of us knew of him, but hadn’t had the chance to meet him.

As many readers of NL will know, Bob Lawrence was a special adviser at the DCLG and a driving force behind its recent work on court desks, mortgage repossession, and homelessness. We had even heard, much to our gratified surprise, that he was a reader of NL. No doubt many will miss him, in whatever way they do housing work. Details of the fund being assembled (for CRISIS) to mark his memory are at: http://www.justgiving.com/boblawrence

[Edit -Read the full post

Posted in Homeless, Housing law - All and Mortgage possession. Tags: , .

Unsung heroes Part 2

By NL on 25/11/2008. 6 Comments

The shortlist for the Legal Aid Practitioners Group Legal Aid lawyers of the year awards is out (see previous post here), and given that housing only featured as a subset of social welfare, there is a good crop of housing lawyers in there. Not NL, of course. Sadly, my fond hopes have been spurned like those of a bride with no capital in a Jane Austen novel. Damn you all.

In the social welfare category, two of the three are housing people. Dawn McPherson of Fisher Meredith, well known for her specialist ASB work, and Mike McIlvaney of Community Law Partnership, occasional commentor here and friend of the blog … Read the full post

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

Accepting "part" of a cheque without waiving forfeiture

By Francis Davey on 25/11/2008. 0 Comments

Osibanjo v Seahive Investments Limited [2008] EWCA Civ 1282 (Court of Appeal)

Are there circumstances in which a landlord can accept only part of a cheque offered by a tenant and thereby avoid waiving its right to forfeit? It would appear that there are, according to the Court of Appeal in this case which raises interesting questions about the thorny issue of waiver of forfeiture.

The trial judge found that the tenant had breached numerous covenants in the lease (against alterations, change of use, parting with possession, and keeping the business premises — a public house — open).  Rent arrears built up in 2005 and the landlord (Seahive) served a … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All and Leasehold and shared ownership. Tags: , , , .

Request for info – Ground 8

By NL on 25/11/2008. 0 Comments

Ah, Ground 8. How we love it.

We have been asked by some researchers, who are investigating housing association rent arrears management as well as their use of Ground 8, if readers would get in touch with them if they have experience of RSLs using Ground 8 and in what circumstances it is used.  The independent researchers have been asked by the Housing Corporation/Tenants Services Authority to find out particularly about the use of Ground 8 by RSLs as opposed to the use of other grounds for possession, as well as other rent arrears management strategies which might be adopted by RSLs.  They would be particularly interested in any anecdotal … Read the full post

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