Tag Archive for 'costs'

Outside the Boxall

By NL on 15/05/2012. 0 Comments

This is an important case on costs on settled Judicial Reviews. Following on Bahta & Ors, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Ors [2011] EWCA Civ 895 [Our report] and Lord Jackson’s view on JR costs, the Court of Appeal in M v London Borough of Croydon [2012] EWCA Civ 595 has given general guidance for awarding costs. The principles should also apply to the equally troublesome area of costs in settled s.204 Housing Act 1996 Homeless appeals.

The actual judicial review that gave rise to this hearing was an age assessment case which was conceded by the Local Authority … Read the full post

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

Costs on settled appeals

By NL on 02/04/2012. 0 Comments

A quick note on a useful case on costs where an appeal has been settled. Harripaul v London Borough of Lewisham [2012] EWCA Civ 266 was an appeal to the Court of Appeal from a failed S.204 appeal to the County Court on a homeless matter.

The appeal was given permission, and Rimer LJ

expressed the view that the appellant had a real prospect of showing that the reviewing officer’s decision was materially deficient and that the judge’s upholding of it reflected unjustified benevolence. I regarded the appeal as having merit and I also considered that it would give this court the opportunity to give any necessary guidance as to

… Read the full post

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

“I could be a lawyer with stratagems and ruses”*

By NL on 29/01/2012. 0 Comments

Wasted costs orders are scary things. There is the censure by the Court, of course, but worst of all, the solicitors then have to pay and, no matter how much or how little, that rips shreds out of the very essence of their being.

Threats to pursue wasted costs tend to be waved around rather too often by some solicitors, perhaps overly convinced of their own rightness. Usually what is at issue is actually a valid point of dispute. Personally, I think these threats tend to backfire, at least if the recipient is reasonably sure that an application would fail. Nothing shrieks of a lack of strength in a position … Read the full post

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

Adams v LGO

By FT on 21/12/2011. 4 Comments

I need to make the obvious pun about the Adams family but the monsters in this particular case were really played collectively by Lambeth. The case is R on the application of Janet Adams v The Commission for Local Administration for England. This is essentially a very negative decision on costs in which Pierce Glynn got little or no thanks by way of remuneration for a lengthy battle on behalf of the Adams sisters for suitable accommodation. Janet and Joan Adams are two sisters who have various and significant health problems. Janet is Joan’s primary carer. Neither are able to work and they live on a very restricted income.

Pierce … Read the full post

Posted in FLW case note, Housing law - All and Various (non-housing). Tags: , , .

Never Mind the Boxall

By NL on 31/07/2011. 0 Comments

Bahta & Ors, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Ors [2011] EWCA Civ 895

This is not a housing case, but it is an important case on costs in settled claims for judicial review, which is a major issue for many housing practitioners.

The Court of Appeal considered five joined appeals in immigration judicial review claims all on the issue of costs following consent orders. In each case, no order as to costs was made. The issue was whether a) the Judges had correctly interpreted R (Boxall) v Waltham Forest LBC 21 December 2000 (2001) 4 CCL Rep 258 and b) whether … Read the full post

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

Judicial review costs redux

By NL on 17/05/2011. 2 Comments

We’ve seen reports of a case called R (Ambrose) v City of Westminster (Admin Court 13 May 2011. Not on Bailii or reported elsewhere so far). It was a judicial review of a refusal to provide interim accommodation pending review. Westminster had apparently decided that because they had arranged housing in Hackney, it was for Hackney to carry out an assessment under s.17 Children Act 1989, rather than refer the applicant and child to its own social services department, although the child remained in school in Westminster.

An interim order to provide accommodation pending judicial review was obtained and unsuccessfully challenged by Westminster. Westminster eventually carried out a Children Act … Read the full post

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

Service charges and legal costs: am I missing something?

By J on 06/05/2011. 9 Comments

Forgive me for what may turn out to be a silly question, but this is something I’ve been thinking about recently and wanted to see what everyone else thought.

Leasehold property and legal costs

A well-drafted lease will usually contain a provision requiring the tenant to pay the landlords legal costs in the event that the landlord has to take action regarding a breach of covenant (e.g. failure to pay service charges). There is, as you might imagine, considerable scope for individual variation from lease to lease (e.g. does the right to costs arise only if the landlord ? Can the costs be billed personally or via the … Read the full post

Posted in Housing law - All and Leasehold and shared ownership. Tags: , , , .
row of sheds footer image
3 pages