Monthly Archive for June, 2009

The good, the bad and the aesthetically challenged

By NL on 29/06/2009. 0 Comments

‘Building Britain’s Future’, a broad Government policy direction document, has been put out and must be regarded as an early draft of the Labour election manifesto. As people may well have heard, social housing and the allocation thereof features in the plan.

If you skip to page 82 of the full PDF, the suggestions are laid out in tantalising vagueness. Given the ‘to be announced’ nature of most of the contents (and, one presumes, the election based provisionality of much of it), what is actually in there?

The good -

we will consult on reforming the council housing finance system and allow local authorities to keep all the proceeds

… Read the full post

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

RSLs support L&Q in Weaver appeal

By NL on 29/06/2009. 0 Comments

According to Inside Housing, not only is L&Q to seek permission to appeal the Court of Appeal decision to the Lords/Supreme Court (and no surprise there) but the G15 group of the largest RSLs in London are potentially backing them, including funding. To quote Inside Housing:

Steve Howlett, chief executive of Peabody Trust and chair of the G15, said: ‘The G15 will consider how we can support L&Q if it chooses to appeal.’

When asked if this meant contributing to a possible ‘appeal fund’, Mr Howlett replied: ‘Yes – that is something that has previously been discussed.’

Given the ludicrous position that the LSC adopted on funding the Court … Read the full post

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

Mutual appreciation

By NL on 28/06/2009. 0 Comments

Tessa Shepperson’s Landlord law blog has been up since February 2006, predating us by four months. The name is slightly misleading – Tessa deals with residential landlord and tenant matters and has much to say of interest for private tenants as well as landlords – see, for example, today’s helpful post on the use of credit unions to avoid banks seizing Local Housing Allowance money from tenants’ current accounts to pay other debts, thus leading to rent arrears. Her blog has also pointed to new tenancy deposit cases that we have gratefully pounced on.

Tessa has just said some nice things about this blog in a post on current housing/L&T … Read the full post

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

Austin to the Lords

By NL on 26/06/2009. 1 Comment

Word reaches us that LB Southwark v Austin (our report on the Court of Appeal here) has been given permission by the House of Lords (or Supreme Court as it will be).

It seems that the time of the tolerated trespasser troubling the Lords is not yet over, as the situation in Austin was not caught by the Housing and Regeneration Act. So one to watch out for.… Read the full post

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

The Lords on Aweys coming soon

By NL on 25/06/2009. 0 Comments

News reaches us that the House of Lords opinions in the appeal of Aweys v Birmingham are to be handed down on 1 July (Court of Appeal report here). [Update, Moran v Manchester CC (our Court of Appeal report here) will also be handed down on the same day as the two were heard together]

We’ll have the decks cleared for those.

In the meantime, here’s a picture for the interlude. (Note to younger readers. There was a time, not that long ago, when there were only three TV channels and programmes didn’t start till lunchtime – and would sometimes then stop until tea. In the … Read the full post

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

Two homes, two MPs and an EDMO

By NL on 24/06/2009. 0 Comments

EDMOs, a remarkable power given to local authorities under Housing Act 2004 to take control of an abandoned or unused residential property and let it (and charge the owner for most of the related costs of doing so), have been used remarkably rarely – I am informed some 29 decisions on orders have been made in the RPT in England since the Act came into force.

Which raises a question or two over the threatened thirtieth order. Married Labour MPs Alan and Anne Keen, who were exposed in the Telegraph expenses porn spreads as both claiming for their joint second home – a flat in Waterloo – to the … Read the full post

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

Kay re-stated

By NL on 23/06/2009. 1 Comment

And the question of what Doherty actually means rumbles on.

Central Bedfordshire Council v Taylor & Ors [2009] EWCA Civ 613 was the Court of Appeal hearing of an appeal from a Circuit Judge’s decision to make an outright possession order and, in particular, to refuse to make findings of fact as a basis for an appeal based on Article 6. The appeal had a complicated history, the original decision was made before Doherty in the Lords was handed down and the grounds for appeal prepared in anticipation of the Lords decision, then revised afterwards from being based in the minority decision in Kay to argue a Doherty gateway B … Read the full post

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