Tag Archives: Disrepair

Shut that (undemised) door!

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Is the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 still relevant in a landlord & tenant relationship, or not?

Jasmine Alexander v (1) Freshwater Properties Limited (2) Christopher Place [2012] EWCA Civ 1048

This was an appeal, decided within a few days of Drysdale v Fletcher in the High Court, but appearing to reach quite different conclusions on the applicability of the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. I’ll give my view on the apparent differences at the end.

Ms Alexander was the occupier (whether tenant or leaseholder is not clear) of a flat in a block. Freshwater Properties was the landlord of the block and Christopher Place was a building contractor hired by Freshwater.… Read the full post

Mind the Step 2 – The bannister that wasn’t

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This is the second of two recent cases on Defective Premises Act 1972 and stairs (for the first see here). There is now a third case on Occupiers Liability Act 1957 with our note to come shortly.

Patrick Joseph Hannon v Hillingdon Homes Limited [2012] EWHC 1437 (QB)

Mr Hannon was a heating engineer, carrying out work at a house owned by Hillingdon Homes. The company Mr H worked for had a long term contract with Hillingdon Homes, which is the corporate vehicle through which LB Hillingdon manages its housing stock. Mr H was ordered to attend the property to power flush the heating system as a matter of … Read the full post

Shaken and Stirred

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Jones & Anor v Ruth & Anor [2011] EWCA Civ 804

We missed this one when it came out in July 2011. Not sure why – sorry. This was an appeal of a claim in nuisance, trespass, harassment and personal injury. The claim arose out of building works on an adjoining property. The appeal is worth looking at on issues of quantification of damages for trespass and the foreseeability of personal injury.

Jones and Lovegrove owned a 3 storey terrace at 105 Lower Thrift Street. Mr & Mrs Ruth owned 103 and 101 Lower Thrift Street, both originally two storey terraces. Between 2002 and 2007, the Rs gutted and rebuilt … Read the full post

It is a truth universally acknowledged…

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…that if a disrepair claim reaches trial these days, then one of three options must be true:
a) there is a genuine and substantive issue of causation or liability (rare as hens teeth);
b) one or perhaps both of the parties are mad;
c) a combination of the above.

White v Quadrant Brownswood Tenants Co-op [2011] EWCA Civ 239 [not on Bailii yet, but we've seen a transcript] was a permission to appeal hearing on the Defendant’s renewed application for permission. Once I’ve gone through the details, I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions as to which of the options, if any, applies here.

Mr White was the tenant … Read the full post

Catching up with 2010 Part 1 – disrepair

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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.

Asked, but not necessarily answered

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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