In Southwark LBC v Ofogba [2012] EWHC 1620 (QB) Hickinbottom J clarified the routes of appeal for appeals against orders arising in possession claims. Facts Briefly, Southwark brought a claim for possession against Mr Ofogba on the basis of rent...
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Sentencing guidance for committal hearings
In Amicus Horizon Ltd v Thorley , Court of Appeal, May 30, 2012 (no transcript available yet), Mr Thorley appealed against an order sentencing him to prison for four months. Amicus Horizon had claimed for possession and an anti-social behaviour...
Paying to stay: Policy and legal dilemmas
DCLG's consultation paper on High Income Social Tenants: Pay to Stay Consultation Paper has brought out the academic in me, in part because it is about the construction of a "problem" by policy-makers. In sum, the proposal is to encourage...
Suitability Regs Consultation
DCLG has issued a consultation on suitability of accommodation in satisfaction of the main homelessness duty. It addresses two issues: the grant of an AST in the private rented sector; and the location of accommodation. The former is much more...
Cohabitant succession
All there is at the moment is a Lawtel note of Amicus Horizon v Mabott and Brand and no neutral citation. It concerns whether Mr Brand was living with Ms Mabott as her husband for the purposes of succcession to Ms Mabott's tenancy: s 17(4),...
Disability and possession
This is a short note of O'Connell v Viridian Housing [2012] EWHC 1389 (QB) - it's short because it goes nowhere really and the facts were not exactly great. Ms O'Connell is partially sighted and suffers from depression. She had occupied supported...
On the naughty step – Part 2: The cost of free
[Updated 12 June 2012] This is the second of a couple of naughty step posts on 'free legal information' on the UK internet. We were moving down through the hellish circles of 'free legal content', but as your reluctant Virgil, I must insist we jump...
On the naughty step – Part 1: Geeks bearing gifts
This is the first of a two part Naughty Step I have, I'm afraid, become annoyed lately. Or to be more accurate, annoyance is a fairly constant state for me, but I have become specifically annoyed about a particular something lately. And it is even,...
Time after time
The Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 makes provision, inter alia, for the LVT to appoint a manager (which may include the functions of a receiver) over residential premises. There are, as you might imagine, qualifying conditions relating both to the...
New kid on the blog(ck)
The Legal Action Group, that lovely group of people who publish the books we all use, as well as the wonderful Legal Action magazine have launched a new housing law blog, here. It's a joint effort with Arden Chambers and the first post is on the...
Leasehold round up
Ok, sorry about this. I've been meaning to do a LVT/UT round up for some time and kept putting it off to allow me to work/sleep/see my wife, etc. So now I've got loads of cases to do. Here goes. Court of Appeal In Westbrook Dolphin Square Ltd v...
Not smelling of roses
Dobson & Ors v Thames Water Utilities Ltd (No 2) [2011] EWHC 3253 (TCC) This is very late as a post. My excuse is that the judgment runs to well over 200 pages, it is very complex and, frankly, other stuff happened. This has sat as a part...