I wonder if I could beg your indulgence while I ride a small hobby-horse of my own. As well as being a (sadly occasional) blogger here at NL, I have other hats. One of those hats is as a champion of open data and in that capacity I sit on a body...
All the blog posts, most recent first
Changing rooms
Or Britain's vanishing bedrooms. [As I was writing this, the DWP announced it was to appeal the two (actually 3) Fife decisions that relied on room size. Details below] The bedroom tax First Tier Tribunal decisions are coming in now. And they are...
It cost you how much?
Law can be expensive. This is particularly so in relation to the process of law, i.e. the costs of going to the law. By this I mean things such as the court or tribunal fees, but particularly the costs of the lawyers. If you lose in civil...
Bedroom Tax. Five Fife decisions
Just a quick note to mention that Inside Housing has a summary of the five Fife bedroom tax First Tier Tribunal decisions (and try saying that quickly), together with copies of the Tribunal judgments (at the bottom of the article). A full post here...
On disappearing bedrooms
This is a rather speculative post, but things have become interesting on the bedroom tax. We reported on one Fife First Tier Tribunal here. There have been another four decisions by the same Tribunal, of which three apparently also resulted in...
Of bedrooms that aren’t
Here is a First Tier Tribunal decision on a bedroom tax appeal that overturns the landlord's assertions on bedroom numbers. It is a Scottish case, but nothing turns on that. I'm grateful to Joe Halewood for bringing this to light (though we differ...
Shelter and shared ownership
I want to put this post in context: (a) I write this post for myself and do not necessarily speak on behalf of the other NL writers. (b) I have enormous respect for Shelter. I have friends who work there. I make regular donations to Shelter. We...
The Lord Chancellor must resign
Don't post in anger, I resolved many years ago. Wait for calm and let any fury in the writing be calculated, I thought. It was, and is, a wise rule. But today I am prepared to make an exception. Today was the day a Lord Chancellor made a public...
Flats less risky
At least less risky for property investors. That is the basis of the Upper Tribunal's decision in Voyvoda v Grosvenor West End Properties, which we have managed to miss reporting because of the Summer break. Voyvoda is all about the "deferment...
The Master across the water
Santander (UK) Plc v McAtamney and other cases [2013] NIMaster 15 is, as the neutral citation should reveal, a case from Northern Ireland, decided by a Chancery Master. It is not, therefore, a binding authority on the law of England and Wales....
It wasn’t me.
Lee v Lasrado [2013] EWHC 2302 (QB) On the whole, trying to appeal an unlawful eviction judgment and quantum decision against you on the basis that you are not actually the landlord is not an approach to be recommended. This appeal decision in the...
A broader view
I can't speak for the other NL writers, but one of the things I sometimes struggle with is making sure that I see housing law in its full context, by which I (think I) mean, making sure that I make myself aware of external sources of inspiration...