Monthly Archive for August, 2009

Kathirkmanathan revisited

By NL on 30/08/2009. 0 Comments

Circle 33 Housing Trust Limited v Kathirkmanathan [2009] EWCA Civ 921

We first reported on this case in July 2009, on the basis of a lawtel note, which was all that was available at the time. In this quiet time for new judgments, there are a few such cases for which full transcripts are now available, so we can fill in some details (and give the proper citation).

This was an appeal of a committal for breach of undertaking. The undertaking was following complaints of noise nuisance from Mr K’s downstairs neighbours. Mr K was Circle 33′s assured tenant and lived in the first floor flat with his wife, … Read the full post

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

Changing Horses Midstream

By chief on 30/08/2009. 0 Comments

Konodyba v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea [2009] EWCA Civ 890 was an appeal against a decision that Dr Konodyba was not entitled to housing assistance as she was subject to immigration control. It turned out to be a cautionary tale about getting rid of your legal advisers at the last minute in order to argue the case a different way.

Dr Konodyba is from Poland, an A8 country. She seems to have worked briefly in a hotel. During this time her child started school. Dr Konodyba made a homelessness claim to Kensington and Chelsea, but this was turned down due to her immigration status. Dr Konodyba argued that … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Homeless and Housing law - All.

Webb v Wandsworth LBC – Take 2

By J on 29/08/2009. 0 Comments

We first noted Webb v LB Wandsworth [2008] EWCA Civ 1643 in November 2008 when it was discussed in an Arden Chambers eflash. Earlier this week, the transcript was finally released. Slightly later this week, it was corrected so as to make sense. Thus, 9 months after the decision, we can finally tell you what Sedley LJ was actually saying.

Ms Webb was (and, as far as I know, still is) the secure tenant of the London Borough of Wandsworth. One of her children had been engaging in serious anti-social behaviour in and around Ms Webb’s home. By the time of trial, he was no longer residing with Ms Webb … Read the full post

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

HLPA Conference

By J on 29/08/2009. 1 Comment

The Housing Law Practitioners Association (“HLPA”) host their annual conference on December 15, 2009 at the Royal College of Surgeons, London. Details have just been released (with more to follow later in September) and can be found at www.profbriefings.co.uk/hlc2009.

Highlights include:

(a) Richard Drabble QC giving the key note speech. Richard has had a very active year in the housing field having appeared in Manchester CC v Pinnock, R (Weaver) v L&Q, Hanoman v LB Southwark and Austin v LB Southwark;

(b) Jan Luba QC outlining the expected developments in housing law in 2010. Given that Jan’s work in Holmes-Moorhouse v LB Richmond, Austin v LB Southwark… Read the full post

Posted in Allocation, ASB, assured-tenancy, Community care, Homeless, Housing law - All, Introductory and Demoted tenancies, Mortgage possession, Nuisance, Possession, right-to-buy, secure-tenancy, Succession and Tolerated trespasser.

Taxonomic revamp

By NL on 23/08/2009. 0 Comments

As our archive has grown, I’ve tried a few ways to make it easier to find what people may be looking for. I brought in tags for posts, which should bring up other posts with similar issues (always assuming we’ve been consistent in the tags we use) and I’ve added a new search engine and advanced search page.

von LinneBut the old category list was pretty much unchanged from when the blog started. So, I’ve added a whole new set of housing law specific categories and rolled all the non-housing law posts into one ‘Various’ category. I’m about half way through the archives, moving the old posts into the new categories, … Read the full post

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

On the Naughty Step

By NL on 20/08/2009. Closed

Our non-lawyer/law student readers, or even non-barrister readers, might have to forgive us for this for this Naughty Step, but it was too good to resist, particularly for those of us – i.e.  me – still newly qualified enough to harbour memories of their professional courses (LPC/BVC), and also familiar, from the other side, with the conduct of University exam committees.

And so, we welcome to the Step Cardiff Law School, who are here for their truly remarkably inappropriate behaviour in the face of a High Court order, as well as managing to ensure that they lost a judicial review of the conduct of their exam committees.

Clarke, R (on … Read the full post

Posted in Various (non-housing).

Contracting out homelessness reviews like the town hall catering contract

By Dave on 20/08/2009. 8 Comments

The Court of Appeal’s judgment in Heald and others v LB Brent [2009] EWCA Civ 930 is just out concerning the outsourcing of s 202 Housing Act 1996 reviews by Brent to Minos Perdios’ company Housing Reviews Ltd.  There have been a number of County Court judgments on this issue which have not necessarily been ad idem (see eg our post on Augustin v Barnet).  The argument against contracting out has been twofold: first, councils have no power to contract out their reviews function under Part VII (and, by extension although not relevant in this case, Part VI) because it is not a “function” of the local authority within … Read the full post

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