Category Archives: Assured Shorthold tenancy

Give Me Back My Money

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We bring you two interesting reports from the world of Rent Repayment Orders. Briefly, these stem from a power under s73 and 74 of the Housing Act 2004. These sections allow a Residential Property Tribunal to award a tenant or local authority the return of rent or housing benefits where the landlord has been operating an unlicensed HMO.

Legislative Context
The provisions are a little different. For tenants the Landlord must have been convicted of operating an unlicensed HMO or the Local Authority must have already obtained an order for the return of Housing Benefit and, after this has occurred, the tenants may then apply for the return of rent … Read the full post

Informing Deposits

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Ayannuga v Swindells (2012) CA (Civ) 6 November 2012. On Lawtel but not on BAILII yet.

The Court of Appeal has recently ruled on a tenancy deposit protection case regarding the issue of prescribed information. Here T had paid a deposit and L had protected it in one of the approved schemes but he had not given the prescribed information as required by the Housing (Tenancy Deposits)(Prescribed Information) Order 2007. T allegedly fell into rent arrears and L sought possession. T counter-claimed on the basis of lack of compliance with the Prescribed Information Order. L admitted non-compliance with the Order but argued that the requirement was largely procedural, that … Read the full post

Tempest Tossed?

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Does the landlord’s repairing duty under Section 11 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 extend to damage by fire, flood or tempest?

LB Hammersmith and Fulham v Carty is a County Court judgment reported on Hardwicke Chamber’s site which raises some interesting issues on the interpretation of Section 11(2)(b) of LTA 1985. This provides:

(2) The covenant implied by subsection (1) (“the lessor’s repairing covenant”) shall not be construed as requiring the lessor—
(a) [...]
(b) to rebuild or reinstate the premises in the case of destruction or damage by fire, or by tempest, flood or other inevitable accident, or
(c) [...]

Ms C was a secure tenant of H&F (whose … Read the full post

The JP, the BBC trainee and the Unlawful Eviction

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An unlawful eviction case with some unusual dramatis personae.

Rebecca Claire Webb v Samina Amreen Birmingham County Court 31 August 2012 [Unreported elsewhere]

Ms Webb was the assured shorthold tenant of Ms Amreen, for a 6 month term from September 2007 then a statutory periodic. A deposit of £540 had been paid, but was not protected. Ms Webb lived at the property with two children.

Over a period leading up to 23 June 2008, Ms Amreen conducted a campaign of harassment intended to drive Ms Webb from the property. This followed a gap of a month in housing benefit payments. There were texts threatening to ‘turn up with the bailiffs’ … Read the full post

The Deposit Alignment

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Johnson v Old, Brighton County Court

We have not yet written about this case even though the first instance decision was reported in Legal Action. As it turns out this has been useful as the original decision, as written up in Legal Action has been set aside on appeal to a circuit judge. While this might appear to be a stunning example of perspicacity it is actually complete luck caused by pressure of work.

In summary the case is one relating to tenancy deposit protection. The definition of a tenancy deposit is given in s212 of the Housing Act 2004 as:

any money intended to be held (by the

… Read the full post

Shut that (undemised) door!

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Is the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 still relevant in a landlord & tenant relationship, or not?

Jasmine Alexander v (1) Freshwater Properties Limited (2) Christopher Place [2012] EWCA Civ 1048

This was an appeal, decided within a few days of Drysdale v Fletcher in the High Court, but appearing to reach quite different conclusions on the applicability of the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. I’ll give my view on the apparent differences at the end.

Ms Alexander was the occupier (whether tenant or leaseholder is not clear) of a flat in a block. Freshwater Properties was the landlord of the block and Christopher Place was a building contractor hired by Freshwater.… Read the full post

A couple of dates and some information short of a s.21 notice

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This is a failed possession and tenancy deposit case now of largely historic interest, though the principles still largely hold true. There is also an interesting point on the period of the tenancy – contractual date v rent date. Our thanks to Legal Action’s ‘Recent Developments in Housing Law’ , Edwards Duthie and Liz Davies for the case.

Lappin v Surace Romford County Court 13 June 2012

Ms Surace was the assured shorthold tenant of Mr Lappin on a 12 month term to 19 April 2010. On the same day – 20 April 2009 – that the tenancy was granted. Mr L served a section 21 notice. Ms Surace paid … Read the full post