Archive for the 'Introductory and Demoted tenancies' Category

Proportionality. A precis on ‘summary’

By NL on 08/11/2011. 7 Comments

Holmes v Westminster City Council [2011] EWHC 2857 (QB)

An interesting appeal from a summary possession order on the issue of consideration of proportionality. While the outcome is not, perhaps, a surprise, some of the arguments are. Plus this is an example of the High Court grappling with how the County Court should approach a summary possession claim, post Pinnock and Powell.

Mr H had a non-secure tenancy from Westminster as temporary accommodation following Westminster accepting a s.193 Housing Act 1996 duty in 2005. In 2009, Westminster told Mr H it had discharged duty following his failure to attend two appointments for inspection of his accommodation. Mr H requested … Read the full post

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

And what kind of chocolate would you like your teapot?

By NL on 04/08/2011. 7 Comments

The DCLG has put out a consultation, announced by Grant Shapps (again), on proposals to bring in a mandatory ground for possession for Anti Social Behaviour. The closing date is 27 October 2011.

I had a look at Shapps’ initial announcement back in January. This time there is a bit more detail. Has it got any better or indeed more sensible?

Briefly, the proposal is to bring in a whole new process rather than to amended or add to existing grounds for possession in Housing Act 1985 or Housing Act 1988. The model is the Introductory Tenancy possession procedure.

The trigger is “serious housing-related behaviour which has already been … Read the full post

Posted in ASB, assured-tenancy, FLW article, Housing law - All, Introductory and Demoted tenancies, Possession and secure-tenancy.

Safe European Home*

By NL on 07/06/2011. 6 Comments

We noted J. L. v the United Kingdom here. Now there are two further English possession cases at the ‘questions to the parties’ stage of the European Court of Human Rights.

Birch and Others v UK Application no. 26393/10

Birch arises out of possession proceedings brought by Bedfordshire DC on a property which had been leased, short term, to a housing association which had, in turn licences a co-op group to grant assured shorthold tenancies to occupiers on its behalf. The lease had been granted in 1993 and expired in 1996. It was not renewed but negotiations went on and the co-op continued to grant ASTs to occupiers. In 2006, … Read the full post

Posted in Assured Shorthold tenancy, FLW case note, Housing law - All, Introductory and Demoted tenancies and Possession. Tags: , , .

You gotta have an opinion

By chief on 24/02/2011. 24 Comments

Hounslow v Powell; Leeds v Hall; Birmingham v Frisby [2011] UKSC 8

[This is probably a work in progress. There may be further additions and comments as people get a chance/have a brainwave. We've also ended up writing this as something of a tag team. Chief did most of it and starts us off.]

Sometime ago Dave opened the door to Tarantino references in relation to the vexed issue of Art.8 of the ECHR and possession proceedings. In his post on Zehentner v Austria he pointed out that, just as American hitmen consider that European fast food chains do certain things rather differently, so the appellate courts in England and … Read the full post

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

Hounslow v Powell newsflash

By NL on 23/02/2011. 3 Comments

The judgment in London Borough of Hounslow v Powell [2011] UKSC 8 (Aka, Powell, Hall and Frisby) is out. We have a detailed post coming shortly on this significant judgment on proportionality defences after Pinnock, but for now, the headlines are:

Introductory tenancies – These are caught  under the proportionality defence. S.127(2) Housing Act 1996 to be read accordingly.

Section 89 Housing Act 1980 – A court can’t make a possession order that defers possession for longer than the maximum period permitted under s.89, even if it considers it would be proportionate to do so. The Supreme Court declines to make a declaration of incompatibility in respect of S.89. There … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Homeless, Housing law - All, Introductory and Demoted tenancies and Possession.

It’s all in the detail – Pinnock part 2

By NL on 15/02/2011. 0 Comments

Manchester City Council v Pinnock [2010] UKSC 6

As if to confirm that housing law is, well, complicated, there is a coda to the Supreme Court decision in Manchester City Council v Pinnock, which has led to a supplementary judgment being handed down. This deals with what order should be made and costs.

The first problem was that the parties couldn’t agree on the consequential order from Pinnock 1 – as you’ll recall, Mr Pinnock’s appeal of the possession order made against his demoted tenancy failed. The initial possession order was made on 22 December 2008, with possession to be given by 12 January 2009. Notice of appeal was served … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All, Introductory and Demoted tenancies and Tolerated trespasser.

Social housing reform “consultation”

By Dave on 22/11/2010. 23 Comments

The heavily trailed (eg here and here), “cataclysmic” consultation paper on social housing reforms has been published by CLG today.  There is much to digest and much will be left to individual PRPs and local authorities to work out.  The “consultation” is limited either to specific groups or to more specific issues without challenging the underlying rationales.  The Localism Bill, shortly to be introduced will carry the main proposed changes.   It also seems like there will be considerable residuary powers retained centrally and locally.  The executive summary of the paper (at pp 9-11) pretty much does the job if that’s all you read, but there are subtler effects and … Read the full post

Posted in Allocation, Assured Shorthold tenancy, assured-tenancy, FLW article, Homeless, Introductory and Demoted tenancies, Possession and Succession.
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