Tag Archive for 'summary possession'

Not seriously arguable

By NL on 13/07/2009. 5 Comments

Another case on post-Doherty public law defences was handed down on Friday. Stokes v London Borough of Brent [2009] EWHC 1426 (QB) concerned an appeal summary possession order made against a traveller in unlicenced occupation of a plot on a Brent traveller’s site.

Ms Stokes had lived at her mother’s plot on the site and had been on the waiting list. She moved onto a plot which contained a site office on part of it, but was not used as a caravan site, in about January 2007. In April 2007 Brent wrote to say that her trespass would not be tolerated. However, in October 2007, Brent wrote to say … Read the full post

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

Kay re-stated

By NL on 23/06/2009. 1 Comment

And the question of what Doherty actually means rumbles on.

Central Bedfordshire Council v Taylor & Ors [2009] EWCA Civ 613 was the Court of Appeal hearing of an appeal from a Circuit Judge’s decision to make an outright possession order and, in particular, to refuse to make findings of fact as a basis for an appeal based on Article 6. The appeal had a complicated history, the original decision was made before Doherty in the Lords was handed down and the grounds for appeal prepared in anticipation of the Lords decision, then revised afterwards from being based in the minority decision in Kay to argue a Doherty gateway B … Read the full post

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

"Something of a mess"

By J on 29/05/2009. 1 Comment

We first noted Defence Estates v L and another [2009] EWHC 1049 (Admin) a few weeks ago and now the transcript is available.

The history

L was married to an army officer. He was a violent alcoholic who abused both his wife and their daughters. In 1989 he resigned following a court martial which found him guilty of ungentlemanly conduct. The Army then (in September 1989) – on compassionate grounds – arranged to house L and her two daughters in Leeds, where the children attended school.

The premises in Leeds were said to be temporary until L could secure housing from the local housing authority. In September 1990 the licence … Read the full post

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

Public Law Defence – an arguable case

By NL on 01/04/2009. 6 Comments

McGlynn v Welwyn Hatfield District Council [2009] EWCA Civ 285 was an appeal of a summary possession that had been stayed pending Doherty in the Lords.

Mr McGlynn was granted a non-secure tenancy by Welwyn in 2000, in pursuance of homelessness obligations under Part VII HA 1996. The tenancy was therefore terminable by Notice to Quit and Welwyn served NTQ in 2004 and possession proceedings in April 2005. Summary possession followed in December 2005, set aside on appeal to CJ in August 2006 on the basis that it was seriously arguable that the LA had exercised its powers improperly. At renewed hearing before a DJ, the Defendant argued that the … Read the full post

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

The Irish Doherty?

By NL on 09/03/2009. 0 Comments

This is well outside our usual beat, not to say our jurisdiction, but in an interesting case, the Irish High Court in Dublin City Council v Gallagherr [2008] IEHC 354 has found, for a second time, that summary possession proceedings, infringed Art. 8 rights and made a declaration of incompatibility in regard to s.62 Housing Act 1966, despite the availability of judicial review. Hat-tip to Garden Court for pointing the case out.

S.62 provides for summary possession procedures for unauthorised occupiers of housing authorities, with no hearing of facts or reasonableness. Mr Gallagher had had has application to succeed to his late mother’s tenancy refused – the Council stating … Read the full post

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

The difference in Doherty?

By NL on 04/03/2009. 7 Comments

A Court of Appeal judgment expressly dealing with a post Doherty public law defence to termination of licence by Notice to Quit was handed down today. Doran v Liverpool City Council [2009] EWCA Civ 146 concerned a possession claim for a plot on a local authority travellers’ site.

Liverpool served Notice to Quit on the basis of alleged breach of licence conditions by ASB abd other breaches. The claim was defended on the basis that the allegations were denied or contested and that there was a public law defence to the decision to issue Notice to Quit. At County Court, summary judgment was granted, abeit that the judgment isn’t entirely … Read the full post

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

Expanding the Public Law defence, a bit

By NL on 21/12/2008. 4 Comments

What Doherty v Birmingham City Council (Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government intervening) [2008] UKHL 57 actually means for a public law defence to possession claims, particularly summary possession, was the subject of London Borough of Hillingdon v Collins & Another [2008] EWHC 3016 (Admin). This is what was to have been a CMC in the Administrative Court, but turned, by the nature of circumstances, into a consideration of the scope and boundaries of the post Doherty defence. As we’ve previously noted, the House of Lords in Doherty did little to actually make things clear, so Hillingdon v Collins is an important judgment.

The case involved … Read the full post

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