Monthly Archive for August, 2011

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That’s not the way to do it

By chief on 12/08/2011. 0 Comments

Zolotareva v Russia (App. No. 15003/04)

With a hat-tip to the Garden Court bulletin, here is a decision of the European Court of Human Rights on the enforcement of an eviction. Ms Zolotareva lived in a municipally owned flat with her son, ex-daughter-in-law and grandchild. She thought that could no longer all live together (I refer you to the “ex” in the last sentence and possibly also the “in-law”) and commenced proceedings for the eviction of her son’s ex-wife. She in turn counter-claimed, asking the court to order that they all get rehoused elsewhere.

The court sided with the ex-wife and ordered not only that she and her … Read the full post

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

Evicting rioters: a brief note

By NL on 11/08/2011. 30 Comments

As a number of Councils and Housing Associations in London, Manchester, Salford and Birmingham say that they intend to evict tenants involved in rioting (and Grant Shapps has jumped in to back them, as has David Cameron), we’ve been requested to take a quick look at the relevant grounds of Housing Acts 1985 and 1988 and consider the ramifications.

The relevant grounds for an eviction would be Ground 2 of Schedule 2 of Housing Act 1985 (for secure, Council tenants) or Ground 14 Schedule 2 Housing Act 1988 (for assured, housing association tenants). These are pretty much identical, both read:

The tenant or a person residing in or

… Read the full post

Posted in ASB, assured-tenancy, FLW article, Housing law - All, Possession and secure-tenancy.

Under a bit of pressure…

By NL on 09/08/2011. 0 Comments

For the last couple of days – and ongoing – we have been getting vast quantities of comment spam, over 1,000 per day. 99.99% are automatically filtered out by our defences and I mop up the rest. However it has a couple of consequences.

I usually scan the spam comment list for any genuine comments that have been wrongly flagged as spam. There have been too many lately for me to do that, so if you posted a comment on the blog since Sunday and it hasn’t appeared, sorry, it has gone with the porn, medication and real estate spam.

If the blog has seemed particularly slow to load over … Read the full post

Posted in Various (non-housing).

Not Ashored

By Francis Davey on 08/08/2011. 0 Comments

Awful title due to NL himself.

Mew v Tristmire concerned whether or not two “houseboats” were “dwelling houses let as separate dwellings” as required in section 1 of the Housing Act 1988 in order for them to be assured tenancies.

The “houseboats” appear to have been converted WWII landing craft that were, in the event, not used in the D-Day invasion. Both rested on wooden platforms so that they did not rise and fall with the tide. Both could be lifted off the platforms and removed, although one, “Emily” was fixed to an additional structure that had been added some 5 years previously and which would be damaged or destroyed … Read the full post

Posted in assured-tenancy and Uncategorized. Tags: , , , .

And what kind of chocolate would you like your teapot?

By NL on 04/08/2011. 7 Comments

The DCLG has put out a consultation, announced by Grant Shapps (again), on proposals to bring in a mandatory ground for possession for Anti Social Behaviour. The closing date is 27 October 2011.

I had a look at Shapps’ initial announcement back in January. This time there is a bit more detail. Has it got any better or indeed more sensible?

Briefly, the proposal is to bring in a whole new process rather than to amended or add to existing grounds for possession in Housing Act 1985 or Housing Act 1988. The model is the Introductory Tenancy possession procedure.

The trigger is “serious housing-related behaviour which has already been … Read the full post

Posted in ASB, assured-tenancy, FLW article, Housing law - All, Introductory and Demoted tenancies, Possession and secure-tenancy.

Road noise, loss of value and human rights

By NL on 03/08/2011. 0 Comments

Thomas & Ors v Bridgend County Borough Council [2011] EWCA Civ 862

This Court of Appeal case might be rather limited on its facts, but there are some broader issues and it is interesting. The appeal was of a preliminary issue, whether the Claimants’ claim under Article 1 Protocol 1 was viable. Art 8 was not relied upon.

Briefly, the appellants all own houses near to a new relief road in Brigend. They claimed compensation under Part 1 of the Land Compensation Act 1973, alleging depreciation in the value of their homes due to noise and other nuisance from the road. For the purposes of this appeal, such a depreciation … Read the full post

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

Genuinely exciting

By J on 02/08/2011. 2 Comments

I’ve been away at a stag weekend for the last few days. I therefore recognise that it is possible that my sense of what is (and is not) exciting and fun may be slightly warped, as I try to re-adjust to polite society. I was, however, genuinely excited last night to see that the Greater London Authority has announced a review into service charges in leasehold property in London (see here).

The scoping paper is a very detailed (but accessible) document, so I won’t repeat it here. Suffice to say that, whether you’re a landlord or tenant (in London), this looks like something you’ll want to get involved with.… Read the full post

Posted in FLW article and Leasehold and shared ownership. Tags: , .
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