Monthly Archive for May, 2010

Less than ambulatory intentions

By NL on 31/05/2010. 11 Comments

Kernott v Jones [2010] EWCA Civ 578

This was the Court of Appeal hearing, on a second appeal, of a case on equitable interests in a property. We reported the first appeal to the High Court and were uneasy about the outcome of that appeal, which seemed to turn more on an idea of fairness than on any of the scant facts in imputing intention as to the distribution of equitable shares. The Court of Appeal judgment, while perhaps harsher on one of the parties, goes some way towards re-establishing certainty for those who, foolishly but inevitably, purchase property jointly while remaining unmarried.

The facts are set out in the … Read the full post

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

An Interesting (but wholly normal) Trespass and Rights of Way Case in Northern Ireland*

By David Smith on 26/05/2010. 8 Comments

Seaport Investments Limited, Seymore Henry Sweeney Carol Sweeney v Andrew Cameron, Mitchell Bailey, John Crooks and the Attorney-General [1999] NIQB 1943

This case concerns rights of way across a property near the Giant’s Causeway known as Runkerry House. You can see the land in Google Maps here.

The property was originally built for Lord MacNaghten. There is a public road (Runkerry Road) which becomes the driveway to the house and on the far side of the house is a public footpath which runs along the cliff tops. Given the locality this is fairly heavily used. Historically there was no gateway on the drive and no clear boundary demarcating the … Read the full post

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

Job Ad*

By NL on 26/05/2010. 4 Comments

BINDMANS LLP
London

Trainee solicitor

We are looking for a housing paralegal [leading to a
training contract] within our Civil Liberties and Social
Welfare Law team.

Applicants must have at least one year’s experience in
Legal Aid and housing casework.

To request an application pack please send an email to:
The HR Team at recruitment@bindmans.com.

Alternatively an application pack can be downloaded
from the recruitment page of our website.
www.bindmans.com
Closing date: Friday 11 June 2010

*We haven’t run job ads before, mainly as no-one had asked. I don’t see any reason not to include ads for housing law related jobs, on a couple of conditions. One is that we’ll … Read the full post

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

How binding is a s.125 notice?

By NL on 22/05/2010. 0 Comments

Nessa v London Borough of Tower Hamlets [2010] EWCA Civ 559

This is an interesting appeal on the issue of the amendment or replacement of a S.125 Housing Act 1985 notice offering the right to buy at a specified price. The actual case itself is not particularly interesting as it turns out, but there are some comments by the Court of Appeal that open up a whole other can of worms.

Ms Nessa was the secure tenant of Tower Hamlets, jointly with Mr Uddin, since 1996. On 4 April 2006 they claimed the right to buy. The price was to be based on the open market value of the flat … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All, right-to-buy and secure-tenancy. Tags: , .

Ibrahim/Teixeira guidance

By NL on 18/05/2010. 8 Comments

The DWP has issued guidance to decision-makers on benefit entitlement in the wake of Ibrahim and Teixeira (our report here) in the European Court, for when there is a likely Article 12 Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 derived right for a child or children to remain to complete education. A copy of the guidance can be found here [link to PDF. Thanks to Disability Alliance]. The guidance is interesting not just for benefit entitlement, but it is a fair guess that housing authorities would follow a similar line.

A couple of things strike me about the guidance. One is the insistence that the Claimant must be primary carer AND … Read the full post

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

Selective and Additional Licensing Consent for England

By David Smith on 18/05/2010. 0 Comments

We have previously reported on the consultation by the DCLG to grant a blanket consent to local authorities in England to operate selective and additional licensing schemes under parts 2 and 3 of the Housing Act 2004 (a blanket consent already exists in Wales). Despite the response to that consultation not setting out any further actions it now seems that the blanket approval has been given and communicated to local authorities, despite a complete absence of any announcement by the DCLG (at least I cannot find one).

This means that local authorities are not now required to seek the approval of the Secretary of State before choosing to licence other … Read the full post

Posted in FLW article and Housing law - All. Tags: , , .

A locked room mystery

By NL on 17/05/2010. 2 Comments

LB Lambeth v Emeter [2010] EWCA Civ 527 [not on Baili, note from a transcript]

This was a renewed permission to appeal hearing which foundered on Mr Emeter’s complete lack of Agatha Christie-esque skills in plotting, detail and making evidence ambiguous.

Mr E was a secure tenant of Lambeth. He obtained the tenancy in 1997 on the basis of a homeless application, stating that he and his 18 month old son had been thrown out by his wife, with whom an elder child stayed. Lambeth served an NTQ in July 2007 and brought possession proceedings on the grounds that this was wholly untrue, that Mr E continued to live with … Read the full post

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