Author Archive for David Smith

A taxing question

By David Smith on 15/04/2012. 6 Comments

Macattram v Camden London Borough Council (2012) QBD (Admin)
On Lawtel but no on BAILII

This is an interesting little problem involving the payment of Council Tax. The landlord had rented the property to the Council. They had used it to house homeless people. The property was rented for a fixed term of three years and at the end of this all the occupiers had left. However, the Council declined to return the property and continued to pay rent. It was accepted by all parties that a periodic tenancy arose at this point. The local authority then stopped paying the rent and sought to surrender their interest by mailing the … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note and Various (non-housing). Tags: .

Substantial Dispute

By David Smith on 11/01/2012. 4 Comments

Benesco Charity Ltd v Kanj & Anor [2011] EWHC 3415 (Ch)

CPR55.8 has been the the subject of a surprising amount of appellate interest recently. For those of you not nodding sagely at this point CPR55.8 deals with the Courts obligations at a summary possession hearing. Put simply the Court has two choices at such a hearing, set out in CPR55.8(1). They can either decide the claim by making a possession order or give case management directions. CPR55.8(2) states that “where the claim is genuinely disputed on grounds which appear to be substantial” those directions must either include an allocation to track or enable that allocation to occur.

In this … Read the full post

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

Sometimes Turning Up Is Optional

By David Smith on 04/12/2011. 0 Comments

Hardy & Anor v Haselden & Ors [2011] EWCA Civ 1387

Excuse the (slightly flippant) title which is a backhanded reference to a recent post by NL. This is actually a slightly sad case.

It is also slightly convoluted set of facts so you will have to bear with me.

Facts
Mr & Mrs Haselden were the owners of a farm in Lancashire along with their daughter, Mrs Ollerton. Mr & Mrs Hardy met with the Haseldens on several occasions during the latter part of 1997 to discuss terms on which the Hardys might move into the farm. In August 1997 Mr Haselden is said to have made an oral … Read the full post

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

Water Under the Bridge

By David Smith on 02/11/2011. 4 Comments

Rochdale Borough Council v Dixon [2011] EWCA Civ 1173

Apologies for the late delivery of this case note which has been held up by a blizzard (of work rather than the kind afflicting the Eastern USA).

This case is somewhat complicated and involved so you will have to bear with me. In summary it consists of a defence to a possession claim which was based on non-payment of utility charges for the provision of water and sewerage.

Rochdale rented a property on a secure tenancy to Mr Dixon. He has resided there for more than 30 years. About 2 years ago he stopped paying a component of the charges levied … Read the full post

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

Mastering Dilapidations

By David Smith on 04/10/2011. 0 Comments

Lord Neuberger MR recently gave a speech to the RICS conference on dilapidations. This conference focuses on dilapidations in commercial property and the speech partly discussed the forthcoming dilapidations pre-action protocol and so might be thought to be of litle interest to readers of this blog. However, the Master of the Rolls made some comments about pre-action protocols in general, mediation, and the use of experts which are worth noting.

Pre-Action Protocols
As the chair of the Civil Justice Council the Master of the Rolls’ views on pre-action protocols are always of interest as it is one of the key bodies which play a part in their creation. The MR … Read the full post

Posted in FLW article and Various (non-housing). Tags: , , .

Squatting- A Reply to Mike Weatherley MP

By David Smith on 30/09/2011. 15 Comments

The debate on squatting has become highly polarised and increasingly bad tempered. Mr Weatherley’s salvo is merely the latest in a range of unhelpful comments that make for good newspaper sales but achieve little. It falls to me to open the NL team’s reply.

In fairness to Mr Weatherley squatters sometimes fail to do themselves any favours. It is hard to find sympathy for those who gloat in the media about the places they have managed to live in for free. However, the media portrayal of squatters as unwashed freeloading hippies or trainee rioters is grossly inaccurate.

I have spent many years dealing with squatters. Mostly, in fact, for the … Read the full post

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