Monthly Archive for March, 2009

Southwark v Austin: Request for information

By NL on 30/03/2009. 0 Comments

We’ve been contacted by the solicitor for Mr Austin of Southwark v Austin. There is to be an application for permission to go to the House of Lords (or Supreme Court? depending on timing, I suppose). As part of this, they’re looking for indicators of the scale of the issue involved in the case.

So the request is:

Please would anyone who has, or has had, a possession case acting for an occupier who would have been a successor tenant if the deceased (ex) tenant had not been a tolerated trespasser at death, contact the solicitor for Mr Austin, Charlotte Collins at charlotte.collins@anthonygold.co.uk (and I gather, the sooner the … Read the full post

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

Kay in the ECtHR

By J on 30/03/2009. 0 Comments

The Statement of Facts, together with the Question posed by the ECtHR is now online.… Read the full post

Posted in Housing law - All. Tags: , .

New search tools

By NL on 28/03/2009. 0 Comments

The previous live search form that sat in the column to the right was getting a little creaky. The archives on this site are quite large now and it just wasn’t returning the results properly, and/or there were too many for it to handle adequately. Sometimes I couldn’t find what I was looking for, although I knew it was there.

So, I’m trying out some new search tools.

The search box to the right will return posts which contain all of the terms you put in, of any length, although not necessarily as a complete phrase. If you want the exact phrase, put it in quote marks “like so”. If … Read the full post

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

If you missed it…

By NL on 26/03/2009. 0 Comments

There was a piece broadcast on Radio 5 live about illegal subletting, I think it was on last Sunday, 22 March. It is available as a podcast until Sunday 29 March here or can be played/downloaded as an mp3.

Many thanks to Ruth, the producer, for the link.… Read the full post

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

A dutiful cousin

By Francis Davey on 26/03/2009. 4 Comments

The House of Lords have again considered the nature and extent of proprietary estoppel in Thorner v Majors [2009] UKHL 18. Regular readers will recall we discussed their decision in Yeoman’s Row Management Limited (Appellants) and another v Cobbe (Respondent) [2008] UKHL 55 in August last year.

Picture this: a large farm in Somerset owned by Peter Thorner. Peter is a man of few words and very indirect in conversation. He might say to you “What are you doing tomorrow?” but what he would really mean is “Would you come along and help me tomorrow”. 

David Thorner was the claimant. His father was Peter’s cousin. David worked very hard … Read the full post

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

Improvements, rent and former long leaseholders – a nasty loophole

By Francis Davey on 25/03/2009. 0 Comments

The recent case of Hughes v Borodex Ltd [2009] EWHC 565 (Admin) illustrates a pitfall that may face the very small number of former long leaseholders who have become assured tenancies as a result of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 (“the 1989 Act”).

Mrs Hughes had been the tenant under a lease that was originally granted for a term of 39.25 years (less 3 days) on 25 March 1964. The tenancy was kept alive by the 1989 Act (which requires the landlord to serve a notice to bring most long residential leases to an end after the term has expired).

In due course the respondent landlord did serve … Read the full post

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

A Weaver v L&Q interlude.

By NL on 25/03/2009. 2 Comments

While we wait for the Court of Appeal judgment in Weaver v London & Quadrant – the case was heard in the last week of February, I believe – we have a judgment along the way, specifically on Weaver’s application for a protected costs order (PCO). It is tempting to see this as something of a parable or synecdoche of the practical frustrations of bringing housing cases, and perhaps of the approach of certain large RSLs.

So, Weaver v London Quadrant Housing Trust [2009] EWCA Civ 235.

As all will recall, L&Q were declared to be a public body for the purposes of the Human Rights Act (and also … Read the full post

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