Tag Archive for 'Article 8'

Housing and Human Rights Round-Up

By SJM on 14/05/2012. 4 Comments

Two interesting cases have been delivered by the ECHR in the last few weeks: Mago and others v Bosnia-Herzegovina and Yordanova and others v Bulgaria.

Mago

The applicants in Mago held tenancies for life of flats within Bosnia-Herzegovina (with the exception of Mrs Mago, whose husband was the tenant) and they were compelled for varying reasons to leave their  homes following the outbreak of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992. Security of these flats could be lost in a limited range of circumstances, including where the flat was left unoccupied for a continuous six month period or more. Once the tenants left, their properties were treated as abandoned by … Read the full post

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

The tenant is dead, long live the tenant

By Francis Davey on 11/05/2012. 23 Comments

Our attention was drawn to a decision in the Medway County Court, presumably because it considered a proportionality defence. I’m not sure there’s much to see there — one of the team said that he was not “remotely excited about it”.

But it caught my eye. To be fair, one cannot always tell from a short judgment of this kind exactly what happened, but it gives the impression that landlord and tenant law was, at best, misunderstood. So it seemed like a golden opportunity to set the record straight.

The defendant’s father and mother had lived in the property under an assured tenancy. Sadly, the father died. The mother succeeded … Read the full post

Posted in assured-tenancy, FLW case note, Housing law - All, Licences and occupiers, Possession and Succession. Tags: , , .

Proportionality, Section 21 and starter tenancies

By NL on 22/04/2012. 2 Comments

Another RSL ‘starter tenancy’ and s.21 case, albeit one that marginally pre-dated West Kent HA v Haycraft, is The Riverside Group Limited – v – Sharon Thomas [2012] EWHC 169 (QB) 2 March 2012 (Manchester District Registry) [Not on Bailii. We've seen a transcript].

This will be a quick note, as the general principle has been established that proportionality defences are available for Housing Association ‘starter tenancies’, being assured shorthold tenancies, where possession is sought via section 21 notice. In addition, Ms Thomas was in person, and failed to appear, after her solicitors came off the record for lack of co-operation, so the extent of argument was limited.

Ms … Read the full post

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

Don’t Panic!

By NL on 01/04/2012. 2 Comments

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

… Read the full post

Posted in Assured Shorthold tenancy, FLW article and Housing law - All. Tags: , .

Homelessness, proportionality and children

By NL on 27/02/2012. 1 Comment

A very welcome guest report on this s.204 Housing Act 1996 Appeal by Alice Hilken of 1 Pump Court, who acted for the appellant, instructed by Rahman & Co.

Kumaning v London Borough of Haringey December 2011, Central London County Court, HHJ Saggerson

The Appellant (A) was a British Citizen of Ghanaian origin who had lived in the U.K for over 15 years. He applied to the council (C) as homeless together with his wife, adult daughter and seven year old son, K. A’s wife & daughter had come from Ghana to join A in the UK in the UK in 2009, whereas K (who was seven years old at … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Homeless and Housing law - All. Tags: , , .

Glad To See Y’Back Again?

By chief on 19/02/2012. 0 Comments

Gladysheva v Russia (App. No. 7097/10)

Courtesy of the always excellent ECHR blog, comes an interesting Strasbourg decision, particularly in relation to the question of just satisfaction. It has, regrettably, taken me ages to write this up. Any students who have had to write essays about it in the meantime clearly have sadistic tutors.

The facts of the case bear some similarity with Tuleshov v Russia, but there are a few differences and what is quite interesting about this case is what the ECtHR does about just satisfaction.

The basic facts are that Ms Gladysheva was a bona fide purchaser of a flat in Moscow. The previous owner … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All, Possession and right-to-buy. Tags: , , .

Proportionality and stay of eviction

By NL on 22/01/2012. 2 Comments

One of the questions posed as a result of Hounslow LBC v Powell [2011] UKSC 8 [our report here] is what happens if a proportionality argument is raised after a possession order has been made, but before eviction.

Powell found that s.89 Housing Act 1980, which limits the time for a stay of possession order to a maximum of 6 weeks, was compatible with Article 8. So, once a possession order has been made, does the court have any discretion to revisit or extend a period of stay beyond 6 weeks?

Ngesa v Crawley BC [2011] EWCA Civ 1291 [Not on Bailii yet] addresses this issue, though perhaps … Read the full post

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