Monthly Archive for January, 2009

Ask and ye shall receive

By J on 27/01/2009. 14 Comments

Yesterday evening I asked for more information about Dixon v Wandsworth LBC (No 2) [2009] EWHC 27 (Admin) and, by the next morning, two copies of the transcript had made their way to my inbox. My gratitude to The Chief and to William Flack of Flack & Co, who are acting for Mr Dixon. Without wanting to get too carried away, this looks like it could be a significant case and I’m going to deal with it in some detail.

The facts

In April 1993 Mr Dixon (then aged 17) and his sister became the joint secure tenants of Wandsworth at a 2 bed flat in SW11. In October 2005, … Read the full post

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

Desperately Seeking Dixon

By J on 26/01/2009. 5 Comments

Garden Court chambers have a note of a case called Dixon v Wandsworth LBC [2009] EWHC (Admin) 27. It isn’t on Bailii, Lawtel or Casetrack. I know that some Garden Court people read this blog and if anyone has more information about it (or a transcript) please let us know.

Mr Dixon and his sister were joint secure tenants of LB Wandsworth. His sister gave NTQ and left the property. LB Wandsworth then obtained a possession order. Mr Dixon applied to set aside the order or to prevent execution of the warrant on the basis that the rule in LB Hammersmith & Fulham v Monk [1992] 1 AC 478 violated … Read the full post

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

The Basildon Endgame

By NL on 26/01/2009. 0 Comments

As people may well have noticed from the news on TV and in the press, the last Court of Appeal hearing in the drawn out saga of the (unlawful) Essex traveller sites resulted in a defeat for the travellers. Basildon District Council v McCarthy & Ors [2009] EWCA Civ 13 was the Court of Appeal hearing of Basildon DC’s appeal against a High Court decision that, in effect, evictions could not proceed against individual households until individual consideration of their circumstances had been carried out. Some 63 caravan pitches were at issue.

Previous litigation over planning permission had been exhausted and, for the occupants, it was admitted that they occupied … Read the full post

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

Allocations/Homelessness

By Dave on 23/01/2009. 6 Comments

Alam v LB Tower Hamlets[2009] EWHC 44 (Admin) is one of those interesting cases that you get in allocations – well, interesting because a council like LB Tower Hamlets should probably know better than to have an obscure clause in its allocations scheme which surely will be challenged sooner rather than later (that it took three years is mildly surprising). It’s also interesting because most allocations cases, like Ahmad, usually turn on the meaning of reasonable preference. This case turned on the meaning to be ascribed to one of the allocations groups in LBTH’s scheme and may be of interest to those in Aweys. Group 2, termed community … Read the full post

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

How to get round the s.17/s.20 debate.

By J on 22/01/2009. 0 Comments

The housing/social services relationship is one of the “hot topics” in housing law at the moment and, before we come to R (on the application of A) v Coventry City Council [2009] EWHC 34 (Admin), a bit of background is needed.

A bit of background

There are two principle sections in the Children Act 1989 which are of interest to housing lawyers. Section 17 contains a power to provide a “range and level of services” to children “in need”. This can include money or accommodation. Section 20, by contrast, is a mandatory duty to provide accommodation for children “in need” who appear to the local social services authority to require … Read the full post

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

Not another review …

By Dave on 22/01/2009. 0 Comments

Yes, it’s true, another review has been published, this time of the regulation and redress in the UK housing market. And yes, if you’re wondering, this was what the Law Commission did in their Issues paper on proportionate dispute resolution and further analysis. The author this time is Professor Colin Jones, whose biog does not suggest that he has ever been particularly interested, if at all, in this issue although that may be a little unfair. Actually, what he has done here is quite respectable to a point and worthy (in contrast to the disastrous Rugg and Rhodes report – for our review, see here).

Prof Jones … Read the full post

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

In passing…

By NL on 21/01/2009. 0 Comments

A couple of quick notes from the HLPA meeting this evening.

Aweys v Birmingham is listed for the Lords next week (homeless at home and allocation policy differences in priority between homeless at home and those with no accommodation available, as if you didn’t already know).

There were mentions of a handful of post-Doherty public law defence cases that have settled, although terms weren’t detailed. While we wait for Bedfordshire CC v Taylor and others (former subtenants) and McGlynn v Welwyn & Hatfield DC (non secure tenancy) in the Court of Appeal, which will be a couple of months for the latter and who knows when for the former, … Read the full post

Posted in assured-tenancy, Homeless, Housing law - All, Licences and occupiers and Possession. Tags: , , , , .
row of sheds footer image
4 pages