Monthly Archive for October, 2010

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Allocations: Overwriting the effective date

By Dave on 26/10/2010. 1 Comment

One of the key things that choice-based lettings is designed to achieve is openness and transparency in housing allocation (or lettings, if you prefer).  It does so mostly by using a relatively crude mechanism of determining priorities in and between bands/groups/classes: waiting time.  In the early schemes, waiting time could be nobbled by adding periods in cases of urgent need through the use of priority cards etc, but this failed the transparency test (see the 2008 CoG).

In R(Kabashi) v LB Redbridge [2009] EWHC 2984 (Admin) (but only just arrived on Baili, honest), Redbridge got away with (and that’s the best way of putting it as far as I’m concerned) … Read the full post

Posted in Allocation.

DWP Research: HB & LHA

By Dave on 26/10/2010. 0 Comments

The DWP has snuffled out (it seems like the best expression but apologies for it) three research reports on the impact of the local housing allowance.  Of course, these reports are largely out of date as a result of recent announcements about the LHA but they are, nevertheless, worth a quick look.  They are Private Landlords and the Local Housing Allowance system of Housing Benefit (Study 1), Tenants and Advisers’ early experiences of the Local Housing Allowance national rollout (Study 2), and Low Income Working Households in the Private Rented Sector (Study 3).  They all use different research methods (albeit relatively industry standard quants and quals, if you will forgive … Read the full post

Posted in Benefits and Possession.

“Could have gone better” corner

By NL on 25/10/2010. 3 Comments

Just a brief note on a couple of tangentially housing-related cases, both of which serve as illustrations of how not to go about things as claimants and in one case, as a defendant as well. A little cruel, perhaps, as to be human is to err, but the oops factor is irresistible.

London Borough of Haringey v Hines [2010] EWCA Civ 1111

Ms Hines had purchased a property under the right to buy from Haringey in 2002. In 2008, Haringey brought a claim for rescission of the lease, alternatively a declaration that it was void, damages for a fraudulent misrepresentation said to have been made by Ms Hines on 16 … Read the full post

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

Bad landlords and good housing lawyers on the TV

By NL on 25/10/2010. 3 Comments

Panorama on BBC1 this evening (link to iPlayer, good for the next few days) was about notably bad examples of private landlords providing ‘housing’ for benefit claimants. Tame Estates in the North West and some others, who frankly all looked like a mass disrepair claim waiting to happen, also imposed high charges for missed rent payments, letters or phone calls. And the talking head of sanity and housing law was Paul Ridge of Bindmans, a friend of the blog. Good job, Paul.… Read the full post

Posted in Housing law - All and Various (non-housing).

Accommodating ‘formerly relevant children’

By NL on 24/10/2010. 0 Comments

SO, R (on the application of) v London Borough of Barking and Dagenham [2010] EWCA Civ 1101

I’m a bit slow in getting to this one (and the rest of our backlog). We’re all more than a little busy. My apologies.

This is the Court of Appeal hearing of a case that first surfaced as a more than surprising result in a Judicial Review decision – [2010] EWHC 634 (Admin) [which we unaccountably missed at the time] – in which the court found that a Local Authority could derive no power to provide accommodation for a ‘formerly relevant child’ under s.23C(4)(c) Children Act 1989, although the primary issue at JR … Read the full post

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

Exodus

By NL on 24/10/2010. 5 Comments

As we await the impact of the imposed upper limits of Housing Benefit, starting in April 2011, it appears that some London Councils have already decided on the likely results, according to this story in the Observer.

Representatives of London boroughs told a meeting of MPs last week that councils have already block-booked bed and breakfasts and other private accommodation outside the capital – from Hastings, on the south coast, to Reading to the west and Luton to the north – to house those who will be priced out of the London market.

Councils in the capital are warning that 82,000 families – more than 200,000 people – face

… Read the full post

Posted in Assured Shorthold tenancy, Benefits, Homeless and Housing law - All.

Sale and rent back – coming soon?

By J on 23/10/2010. 5 Comments

Word reaches us (via the Garden Court North website) of what appears to be a fascinating piece of litigation in the High Court (Leeds District Registry) concerning sale and rent back schemes (as to which, see our earlier piece, here). A number of former home-owners sold their homes (generally at a substantial discount) to sale and rent back companies who, in turn, (a) funded the purchase with a mortgage and (b) promised the former owners that they could remain living in the property (on terms, I presume). The sale and rent back companies defaulted on their mortgages and the lenders have sought possession. The argument, I presume, is … Read the full post

Posted in Housing law - All, Leasehold and shared ownership, Mortgage possession, Possession and Trusts and Estoppel. Tags: .
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