Monthly Archive for June, 2010

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Waiting For Tiensia

By David Smith on 17/06/2010. 7 Comments

Qurat-Ul-Ain Zia v Mourtada Central London County Court 09/02/2010

This case in Central London County Court has been reported briefly in Legal Action [but we have had the transcript - NL]. While this post makes reference to the Tiensia case this matter actually concerns an issue which will probably not be dealt with by the Court of Appeal. Specifically, it deals with the question of whether a tenancy deposit taken prior to the introduction of the tenancy deposit protection schema should be placed into protection on the renewal of a tenancy.

Facts
The facts are simple. A number of consecutive tenancies had been entered into between Q and M, the … Read the full post

Posted in Assured Shorthold tenancy, Deposits, FLW case note, Housing law - All and Possession. Tags: , , .

Measuring a measured duty

By NL on 17/06/2010. 0 Comments

Lambert & Ors v Barratt Homes Ltd & Anor [2010] EWCA Civ 681

This was the Court of Appeal hearing of an appeal by Rochdale MBC (the anor in this case) against the judgment of HHJ Grenfell in the Technology and Construction Court. The issue was the finding that Rochdale had a measure duty of care to the Claimants and had been in breach of that duty.

The facts and history of the case are not straightforward, but the relevant facts are that Rochdale owned an area of land, which were playing fields. It sold part of the land to Barrett for development as a housing estate and retained the … Read the full post

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

Gateway (b), CPR 55.8(2), and disclosure: Brent LBC v Stokes

By Dave on 16/06/2010. 0 Comments

The Court of Appeal have refused permission to appeal in Brent LBC v Stokes [2010] EWCA Civ 626 (not on Baili yet) – we reported the High Court judgment here, which contains the summary of the facts and the important decision of King J.  The case raises a really significant point about the seriously arguable test, when defending possession proceedings drawing on a gateway (b) public law challenge.  In essence, the point is about CPR 55.8(2) – where a possession claim is disputed on grounds which appear to be substantial, the judge can give case management directions; if there is no such defence, then possession should be ordered.  How … Read the full post

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

A(nother) Cautionary Tale

By Dave on 16/06/2010. 0 Comments

In Crawford v Croydon LBC [2010] EWCA Civ 618 (not on Baili yet), the Court of Appeal refused Mr Crawford’s application for permission to appeal against a suspended possession order made against him by HHJ Ellis in the Croydon County Court after a two day trial.  Permission had been refused on the papers, but Rimer LJ had given permission on an oral application limited to certain grounds only.  In the CA, Morgan J gave the leading judgment, with which Carnwath LJ agreed and added a few choice words; Arden LJ agreed with both judgments.  The CA refused permission, it must be said, with a flea in the ear of Counsel … Read the full post

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

A bumper pack of unlawful eviction – updates from Legal Action

By NL on 15/06/2010. 3 Comments

In the second post of County Court cases you will already have read in June’s Legal Action Housing updates, we turn to unlawful eviction and harassment. And it appears to have been a rich few months in this regard, with no fewer than five cases to note.

Fakhari v Newman, Woolwich County Court 07/01/2010
Mr F granted Mr N a one year AST in May 2008. Monthly rent of £985 and one months rent taken as deposit. The deposit was not protected. The boiler in the property had problems from the start and broke down completely in December 2008. Mr N was without heating and hot water until … Read the full post

Posted in Assured Shorthold tenancy, FLW case note, Housing law - All and Unlawful eviction and harassment. Tags: , , , .

Re-entry and re-opening: updates from Legal Action

By NL on 14/06/2010. 0 Comments

June’s Legal Action housing updates have a bumper collection of interesting county court cases, as you’ll already know. For our archives, this is the first of a couple of posts. This one deals with cases on post-eviction re-entry and on re-opening possession proceedings, including an LB Croydon case that very nearly merited a naughty step post of its own.

Croydon LBC v Mensah-Bonsu, Croydon County Court 15/03/2010
Ms Mensah-Bonsu was Croydon’s secure tenant. In August 2009 a suspended possession order was made on terms of rent plaus £21.60 per month. Ms M-B complied until December 2009, when she missed a payment due to ill health. She contacted Croydon offering … Read the full post

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

Pulling the Rugg out from under them

By NL on 10/06/2010. 2 Comments

Housing Minister Grant Shapps has now confirmed that not only the National Landlord Register is finished as a proposal. Also dead in the water are regulation of letting and managing agents, and compulsory written tenancy agreements.

Councils are ‘urged to use the wide range of powers that they already have at their disposal’ to deal with bad landlords. Quite who is to deal with dodgy letting and managing agents is not clear.

No further regulation of the private rental sector is to be expected.

In other news, cuts of £360 million to Criminal legal aid are confirmed. Civil legal aid shivers at the footstep on the stair…… Read the full post

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