Monthly Archive for December, 2011

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Adams v LGO

By FT on 21/12/2011. 4 Comments

I need to make the obvious pun about the Adams family but the monsters in this particular case were really played collectively by Lambeth. The case is R on the application of Janet Adams v The Commission for Local Administration for England. This is essentially a very negative decision on costs in which Pierce Glynn got little or no thanks by way of remuneration for a lengthy battle on behalf of the Adams sisters for suitable accommodation. Janet and Joan Adams are two sisters who have various and significant health problems. Janet is Joan’s primary carer. Neither are able to work and they live on a very restricted income.

Pierce … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All and Various (non-housing). Tags: , , .

How Gratuitous is Your Licence

By David Smith on 21/12/2011. 1 Comment

Potter v Dyer [2011] EWCA Civ 1417

This is another rather sad and complex case with a fairly convoluted set of facts. Mr & Mrs Potter (senior) acquired a farm and farmhouse as a single unit in 1947. In 1966 they let the whole of the farm and farmhouse to themselves as a joint tenancy with their son Gordon Potter. In 1971 Mr & Mrs Potter and Gordon granted an oral tenancy of the farm (but not the farmhouse) to Mr & Mrs Potter’s other son Brian Potter. It is Brian Potter who is the claimant in this case. Brian Potter was residing with his parents in the farmhouse, but … Read the full post

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

Home, realistically and objectively

By NL on 18/12/2011. 0 Comments

London Borough of Islington v Boyle & Anor [2011] EWCA Civ 1450

This rather sad case was Islington’s appeal on the issue of whether Ms Boyle was occupying the flat she had under a secure tenancy as her ‘sole or principal home’. It is a highly significant case in which the Court of Appeal gives guidance on how the Court should approach both ‘continued occupation’ and ‘occupation as only or principal home’ in contested cases.

Ms B had a secure tenancy of a Highbury flat from 1996. She lived there with her ‘on-off’ partner and their three children. The eldest son, Daniel, was severely autistic and suffered from epilepsy, ectodermal … Read the full post

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

Leasehold law update

By J on 18/12/2011. 0 Comments

It’s cold, wet and miserable, but at least there is some new leasehold legislation and a case to cheer you up.

The first is the Right to Manage (Prescribed Particulars and Forms) (Wales) Regulations 2011, replacing the 2004 regulations of the same name. As you’ll all know, the Right to Manage is where qualifying leaseholders of buildings form a company which can take over the landlord’s management functions; it involves the service of a series of prescribed notices, all of which are dealt with in these new regulations. On a similar note, the RTM Companies (Model Articles) (Wales) Regulations 2011 have also been published, prescribing new forms of model … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All and Leasehold and shared ownership.

Money can’t buy you everything

By NL on 18/12/2011. 13 Comments

Sun Street Properties Ltd v Persons Unknown [2011] EWHC (Ch), [2011] All ER (D) 72 (Dec) [no transcript available yet]

Or, what the hell is going on about Occupy/Bank of Ideas and the property owned by Union Bank of Switzerland. As you probably noticed, on 18 November 2011, an empty property in the City was occupied by a group connected with the OccupyLSX camp outside St Paul’s. The property was ultimately owned by the UBS, the ones who allegedly just lost some $2.3 billion through a rogue trader.

At the time, I predicted that UBS (or rather their subsidiary, Sun Street Properties Ltd) would go for an interim possession order … Read the full post

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

HB round up

By Dave on 17/12/2011. 0 Comments

Three decisions of the Administrative Appeals Chamber of the Upper Tribunal on HB matters stand out: SS v North East Lincolnshire Council (HB) [2011] UKUT 300 (AAC); MB v Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (HB) [2011] UKUT 321 (AAC); MR v Bournemouth Borough Council (HB) [2011] UKUT 284 (AAC).  If anything binds them together, it is the failure of the first tier tribunal to get to grips with a case, the problems caused by non-attendance of the Claimant or the attendance of the  unrepresented Claimant, and the ability of the Upper Tribunal (by contrast) to nail the issues.

In SS, the issue arose because the first tier tribunal … Read the full post

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

Fairness for hedges

By Dave on 17/12/2011. 0 Comments

R(Pelling) v Newham LBC [2011] EWHC 3265 (Admin), 28.10.2011 (not on Bailii yet)

It’s fair to say that I have an unnatural (purely) academic interest in high hedges – my colleagues laugh every time I try to discuss it sensibly.  I’ve always found it discursively significant that provisions about high hedges were included in the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003.  Anyway, there are others who have a more practical interest in them too, as can be seen from the various television programmes which grace our screens about them (often in the vein of the “neighbours from hell”).  Whether or not Dr Pelling has appeared in those programmes, I do not know, … Read the full post

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