Monthly Archive for January, 2011

What to review?

By NL on 31/01/2011. 0 Comments
Nzamy v Brent London Borough Council Court of Appeal, January 26, 2011 [Arden eflash 420. Not on Bailii yet, but we've seen a transcript of the extempore judgment]
The appellant and family were in permanent accomodation provided by Brent following a previous homeless application. Following reports of threatened violence against them relayed to Brent, which  appears to have been effectively taken as a homeless application, Brent made an offer of alternative accommodation in December 2008. Mr & Mrs Nzamy did not consider that the property offered was suitable. Brent wrote to them stating:

Should you not accept, the Council will construe that it has DISCHARGED ITS STATUTORY DUTY to you.

… Read the full post

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

Dispensing with consultation

By J on 31/01/2011. 4 Comments

We covered Daejan Investments Ltd v Benson and others [2011] EWCA Civ 38 when it was in the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) (our note, here). For a summary of the relevant law and facts, please see that earlier post (slightly lazy, I know, but I am very tired).

Daejan, as  I suspected, pursued the case to the Court of Appeal and their appeal has now been dismissed. It’s a not uninteresting judgment.

The Court of Appeal notes that the primary focus of an appeal is likely to be the decision of the LVT and not the UT(LC), although it would be appropriate to give some weight to the approach … Read the full post

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

Who you gonna call?

By J on 31/01/2011. 0 Comments
If there’s somethin’ strange in your neighbourhood you can now call… any of the persons listed in s.37(1), Policing and Crime Act 2009 (and not Mr Ray Parker Jr for whilst he “aint afraid of no ghost”, he’s useless* against criminal gangs).
You may recall that, back in BCC v Shafi (our note here), the Court of Appeal** held that a local authority could not use s.222, Local Government Act 1972 to obtain an injunction against members of a gang if (as in Shafi), it was possible to obtain an ASBO under s.1, Crime and Disorder Act 1998 instead. In that case, the authority had to seek an … Read the full post
Posted in ASB and FLW article. Tags: , , .

Grant cuts overturned?

By NL on 30/01/2011. 1 Comment

We know nothing more about this case than is reported by Local Government Lawyer here, but it appears that a judicial review of London Councils decision to cut £10 million from its £24.6 million grant scheme to voluntary sector organisations in the capital was successful on Friday 26 January.

The Judicial Review was brought by two service users of affected voluntary organisations, apparently on the grounds that a proper assessment of gender, disability and race equality impacts was not carried out. The cuts would have affected more than 200 voluntary and community sector organisations in London, with tens of thousands of clients.

No transcript is available yet, hopefully it … Read the full post

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

On the naughty step – a bag of wind

By NL on 30/01/2011. 28 Comments

As Dave has explained, the Supreme Court decision in Yemshaw v LB Hounslow brought the definition of violence in Housing Act 1996 into line with other statute and Government guidance, in particular with the accepted family law definition of ‘domestic violence’.

But not for the Daily Mail. For the Mail, the real issue was set out in their headline “Shout at your spouse and risk losing your home: It’s just the same as domestic violence, warns woman judge“. It was a five judge Supreme Court, so that should be “warn 4 men and 1 woman judges”, but it is of course the woman judge that is undermining … Read the full post

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: .

The Supreme Court on iplayer

By J on 28/01/2011. 4 Comments

For those who can’t get enough of “the brilliant Baroness“, there is (on the BBC iplayer) a quite excellent programme about the operation of the Supreme Court. Baroness Hale is interviewed at length and, once again, demonstrates her enormous (but thoroughly charming) intellect. There is a housing-law aspect to it; the BBC were clearly filming during Pinnock (or, perhaps, Frisby). How do I know this? See if you too can spot Andrew Arden QC and Jan Luba QC…… Read the full post

Posted in FLW article. Tags: , .

Fire, Fire!

By David Smith on 28/01/2011. 0 Comments

A brief note to point out the Fire Safety (Protection of Tenants) Bill 2010-11, which is currently working through the House of Commons.

This is Private Members Bill which had its first reading on 30 June 2010 (we were a bit slow picking it up, sorry) and is due a second reading on 1 April 2011. This bill will require all landlords to fit at least one mains-powered battery backed smoke alarm in rented residential property which will comply with grade D of British Standard 5839: Part 6 (2004). This must be in place prior to a tenancy agreement being entered into. Failure to do so will be … Read the full post

Posted in FLW article. Tags: .
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