Housing law news and comment
The 2012 Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year nominations are open.
In this difficult time for legal aid, what better than to celebrate the passion and commitment of those working in legal aid practice? Do you know someone or a practice whose work should be recognised in the LALYs? Then nominate them!
The nomination form is here and more details are here.
The closing date is 27 April 2012… Read the full post
The Residential Landlords Association appears to have got its collective knickers in a bit of a twist over proportionality. According to its press release and a report on 24dash, the RLA has suddenly decided that Powell v Houslow presents a dramatic threat to its private sector members (possibly triggered by our report on Khela v Dainter, heading to the Court of Appeal).
Here is what the RLA have said:
“At present landlords in the private rented sector are able to begin eviction proceedings based on a tenant breaching the terms of their contract if they fall into arrears on their rent by 2 months. Once a tenancy is
The Government’s proposal to criminalise trespass to residential property, contained in LASPO at clause 136, is due to be considered at report stage in the House of Lords tomorrow (Tuesday 20 March). The Government’s estimate of additional costs arising from the proposal is £25 million over 5 years.
SQUASH have obtained a report on the likely costs of the proposal, highlighting the shortcomings of the MoJ’s costings. The research takes into account knock on costs to other Departments and to Local Authorities. It outlines a range of scenarios that may result from the criminalisation and estimates the likely costs at between £316 million and £790 million.
The Guardian has further … Read the full post
[Updated 15 March, see below]
Joe Halewood, who runs a fine blog on supported housing at SPeye, has unearthed a rather alarming statement from the DWP buried in the impact assessment on under occupation changes to HB for social housing from October 2011. The passage (at para 5) reads:
“From 1 April 2013 it is intended to introduce size criteria for new and existing working-age Housing Benefit claimants living in the social rented sector. The size criteria will replicate the size criteria that apply to Housing Benefit claimants in the private rented sector and whose claims are assessed using the local housing allowance rules”
The implication is that … Read the full post
The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill enters report stage in the House of Lords from 5 March. Any further amendments to the bill in the Lords must happen at this stage. It is likely that the social welfare provisions, including housing, will be debated from Monday 5 March onwards.
There is one single housing related amendment tabled, although there are others addressing social welfare more broadly. The amendment is at 75-77 of the marshalled list of amendments. The proposed amendment was drafted by Shelter with the support of Citizens Advice, Justice for All, the Law Society, the Law Centres Federation, Young Legal Aid Lawyers, the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, … Read the full post
You’ll remember that, back in August 2011, the GLA announced that it was conducting a review of service charges in the capital (see our note here) and that the evidence included a panel discussion which was broadcast across the internet (see here). The final report has now been published (available here) and makes for interesting reading. I’ll come to the recommendations in a moment, but, in outline, the major point seems to be that landlords (especially private sector) would be well-advised to engage in a much more detailed consultation process before doing major works, effectively lifting some of the best practices from the social housing sector. They … Read the full post
As of April 2012, all Civil and Family Courts in the London region (and apparently throughout England and Wales) will be changing the opening times of the court desks. They will be open only between 11 am and 1 pm.
According to HMCTS:
Court users attending the public counter with routine work that does not require a face to face service provision will be directed to a “drop box” or to the secure court postbox. Work that is considered will fall into this category include:
- Making a payment
- Case specific enquiries
- General enquiries
- Lodging documents
- Issuing money claims or other civil applications
- Issuing divorce proceedings
- Issuing public or private law
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