Archive for the 'Possession' Category

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Annual rituals

By NL on 01/01/2012. 1 Comment

Happy new year to all who read, comment on or write for Nearly Legal!

This is usually a moment to take stock of the past year and look forward to the next, but I’m feeling far too lazy to do it properly. Luckily, the DCLG have made the task easier by shouting again that they propose to crack down on subletting. In what is rapidly becoming an annual tradition, Grant Shapps has announced plans to consult on proposals to make sub-letting a criminal offence. Rather oddly, Mr Shapps says:

For too long this country has turned a blind eye on the multi-billion pound problem of housing tenancy fraud

… Read the full post

Posted in assured-tenancy, Housing law - All, Possession, secure-tenancy and Various (non-housing).

Policy, possession and proportionality

By NL on 31/12/2011. 4 Comments

Denry Okpor v London Borough of Lewisham, Bromley County Court 25 October 2011 [Transcript not publicly available]

This was a rolled up permission to appeal and appeal hearing (on which more later) for appeal to a Circuit Judge from a possession order made by a District Judge at Bromley. At issue was whether the District Judge was wrong to reject a) a proportionality defence and b) a gateway B public law defence arising from Lewisham’s failure to follow its own policy. It is interesting as an example of proportionality/gateway B defences in action in the County Court, but also somewhat frustrating, for reasons which will become clear.

Mr Okpor … Read the full post

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

Estoppel and s.2 – will we find out?

By Francis Davey on 23/12/2011. 0 Comments

In the Summer Dave and David Smith posted about the case of Kinnear v Whittaker in the High Court. Bean J allowed an appeal against the summary disposal of a possession claim where the defendant had raised proprietary estoppel as a defence. This interesting and important question about the interaction between estoppel and s.2 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 was therefore put off until trial.

The claimants appear to have been too excited to wait until then (or, more likely, but less poetically, they wanted to avoid the expense of a trial) and so appealed to the Court of Appeal. On Wednesday Stanley Burnton LJ refused … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Mortgage possession, Possession, Trusts and Estoppel and Uncategorized. 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: .

Home, realistically and objectively

By NL on 18/12/2011. 0 Comments

London Borough of Islington v Boyle & Anor [2011] EWCA Civ 1450

This rather sad case was Islington’s appeal on the issue of whether Ms Boyle was occupying the flat she had under a secure tenancy as her ‘sole or principal home’. It is a highly significant case in which the Court of Appeal gives guidance on how the Court should approach both ‘continued occupation’ and ‘occupation as only or principal home’ in contested cases.

Ms B had a secure tenancy of a Highbury flat from 1996. She lived there with her ‘on-off’ partner and their three children. The eldest son, Daniel, was severely autistic and suffered from epilepsy, ectodermal … Read the full post

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

Money can’t buy you everything

By NL on 18/12/2011. 13 Comments

Sun Street Properties Ltd v Persons Unknown [2011] EWHC (Ch), [2011] All ER (D) 72 (Dec) [no transcript available yet]

Or, what the hell is going on about Occupy/Bank of Ideas and the property owned by Union Bank of Switzerland. As you probably noticed, on 18 November 2011, an empty property in the City was occupied by a group connected with the OccupyLSX camp outside St Paul’s. The property was ultimately owned by the UBS, the ones who allegedly just lost some $2.3 billion through a rogue trader.

At the time, I predicted that UBS (or rather their subsidiary, Sun Street Properties Ltd) would go for an interim possession order … 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: .
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