Well, well. You wait four years then three come along at once. Our thanks to Doughty Street Chambers for their note of a County Court judgment on damages for disrepair and unfitness for human habitation. E v The London Borough of Lambeth (Wandsworth County...
Service of prescribed documents – deemed or actual?
This is a note of a county court appeal on the issue of whether Section 7 Interpretation Act 1978 applied to the prescribed documents required to be given to the tenant before service of a section 21 notice - EPC, GSC, How to Rent Guide. This judgment is of...
Not at home alone, but intending to return
Weintraub v London Borough of Hackney (2024) EWHC 845 (Ch) An appeal of the dismissal of a claim for a declaration that Rabbi Weintraub had the right to buy, which was dismissed on the basis that he was not occupying the property as his only or principal...
Universal Credit, transitional protection and temporary accommodation
Our grateful thanks to Alexa Thompson, a pupil barrister at Garden Court North for this note on an Upper Tribunal benefits appeal which may be of significance for many people when they leave temporary or supported accommodation. Thanks also to Tom Royston,...
Council managing its premises is not providing a service for Equality Act 2010 purposes.
FG, R (On the Application Of) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (2024) EWHC 780 (Admin) This was a judicial review of RBKC, asserting discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 in RBKC's failure to make physical adaptations to a flat occupied by...
Reforming Renters (Reform) Bill – ‘pragmatic’ intrusiveness
The row about the apparent govt amendments to the Renters (Reform) Bill goes on, principally about the proposed initial 6 month term in which the tenant could not give notice (although also, obviously, about the unspecified delay in introduction of the ban...
The Lowe down.
Lowe v Governors of Sutton's Hospital In Charterhouse (2024) EWHC 646 (Ch) A High Court appeal of a first instance county court judgment by HHJ Luba KC, which we noted here. The claim was for deposit penalties for failure to provide the prescribed...
News bits – Renters (Reform) Bill ‘reformed’, HHJ Luba KC retirement.
The disappearance of the Renters (Reform) Bill from the parliamentary timetable has been the subject of much speculation, with reports of it being held hostage by Tory backbenchers demanding landlord friendly changes, and the prospect of the Bill being lost....
Unfitness for human habitation quantum – 100% again
Mason v 1) Olivera and 2) Santana, Claim no: K2PP0132 (15th December 2023, County Court at Clerkenwell and Shoreditch) Our grateful thanks to Garden Court Chambers for details of this judgment on a housing conditions counterclaim to a claim for possession....
Suitability, disability discrimination and dogs – temporary accommodation
AB & Anor, R (On the Application Of) v Westminster City Council (2024) EWHC 266 (Admin) This was a judicial review of both the suitability of accommodation provided to a homeless couple, and also of Westminster's policy of sourcing temporary...
Leasehold Upper Tribunal roundup
Some quick notes on various recent (ish) Upper Tribunal decisions Crisplane Ltd v Plymouth Community Homes Ltd (LANDLORD AND TENANT - SERVICE CHARGES - liability of lessee under right to buy leases to contribute to cost of repairing roof - s.139 and Sch.6,...
Landlords behaving badly corner – racial discrimination and harassment
Our thanks to Doughty Street Chambers for their note on this judgment. Hickmet and Cheerz Express Limited v Dragos (Luton County Court, 19 January 2024) Ms Dragos was the assured shorthold tenant of Cheerz Express, with the tenancy beginning 1 June 2017. A...