Tag Archive for 'Disrepair'

Catching up with 2010 Part 1 – disrepair

Part 1 of cases – mainly county court –  that we have missed or not heard of during 2010.

With our grateful thanks to Beatrice Prevatt of Garden Court for bringing these to our notice in her disrepair update at the HLPA conference:

Shazad v Khan. Birmingham County Court 26 August 2010

S was the tenant of a 3 bed house in which he lived with his wife and 5 children aged between 2.5 and 13 years. K was the landlord. Rent was £4200 per annum. S brought what appears to have been a counterclaim for disrepair for a period since 2005.

I’m just venting

Bilgili v (1) Paddington Churches HA & (2) Pathmeads HA [2010] EWCA Civ 1341 (only available on Casetrack, so far as I can tell, but noted in the GC bulletin [edit: eventually appeared on Read the full post

Asked, but not necessarily answered

After the excitements of Kay v UK, the LSC Judicial Review and the coming into force of (bits) of the Equalities Act – on which we will have a post shortly – there is a bit of a lull before the floods of new housing case law start up again. So, time for another trawl through the logs of search terms that brought people to nearly legal in the last month. Some can be answered, some are unanswerable and some are frankly bewildering…

how to wear a cravat
boldly and flamboyantly, with no sense of shame, or taste. There is no such thing as an ironic or indeed an … Read the full post

All mimsy were the borogoves

The Jabberwock of the tenancy deposit scheme came whiffling again, in the tulgey wood of Northampton County Court. This time it was the clause that catch to beware of. And there’s a disrepair claim in there too.

Paula O’Brien v Jacqueline Jones & Andrew Alexander (T/A Belvoir Huntingdon). Claim No 9KG00335 12/02/2010 [On Lawtel for some reason]

Ms O’B (hereafter B) was the assured shorthold tenant of Ms J (hereafter J), whose managing agent was Mr A (T/A BH) (hereafter ‘the agent’). The tenancy was ended by agreement on 19 December 2008. B had withheld the last two months rent due to her concerns about the condition of the … Read the full post

Of fair rents, disrepair and unreasonable temptations

Ahmed & Ors v Murphy [2010] EWHC 453 (Admin)

This was an appeal to the High Court of a decision by the London Rent Assessment Committee (LRAC) that the maximum fair rent payable by Mr Murphy for the flat in Brick Lane, Spitalfields was £8.50 per week. The appeal was brought by the landlords, the Ahmeds. Neither the tenant, Mr Murphy, nor the LRAC attended or were represented.

As a case, it is primarily about assessment of maximum fair rent for protected tenants, but there is something for everyone in there, from security of tenure to ‘reasonable notice’ in disrepair. It also features one of the most bewildering set of … Read the full post

Disrepair Quantum – Ombudsman

Local Government Ombudsman Report
Report ref 09 005 422

Harlow District Council

Ms S was Harlow’s secure tenant. Due to a leak, the ceiling in her daughter’s bedroom became damaged, in danger of falling and unsafe. Despite Ms S’s complaints, Harlow did not carry out repairs for 18 months, during which time her daughter either had to share her bedroom, sleep on the sofa or stay with friends. The daughter also had no private place to study, which affected her college work. Harlow denied liability for the cost of repairs, as did their contractors’ insurers, although the works concerned fell clearly under Harlow’s repairing obligations under the tenancy agreement.

The … Read the full post

Underhand but not abusive

Andrew Henley v Shelly Bloom [2010] EWCA Civ 202

This was a second appeal to the Court of Appeal of a first instance decision that Mr Henley’s claim for disrepair against his former landlord, Ms Bloom was an abuse of process, the first appeal to a Circuit judge having been dismissed.

The brief facts: Mr H was the tenant of a basement flat since about 1986. Ms B was the landlord from about 2001, when she acquired the freehold of the property, later just retaining a lease of the basement flat.

In October 2002, Brighton Council served notices stating that it was minded to serve formal notice requiring repairs, including … Read the full post



row of sheds footer image
5 pages