Mich-Onyibe v Wandsworth LBC (04/11/08, CA, judgment currently unavailable otherwise than by way of e-flash from Arden Chambers) is a kind of a curious footnote to homelessness law. Wandsworth accepted that they owed the full Part VII housing duty...
All the blog posts, most recent first
It's the end of the world as we know it
Housing Minister Margaret Beckett dropped a bit of a bombshell yesterday. The Government has (according to leaks in the Times) responded warmly to a CIH proposal to end secure and assured tenancies as we know them and replacing them with fixed term...
Retaliatory Eviction Campaign
As many readers will know, Debbie Crew has been conducting a campaign about retaliatory evictions - typically in private tenancies where a tenant has complained about conditions in the property and got Environmental Health in, and the landlord...
Homelessness fact finding and Article 6
What more could you wish for on a Friday afternoon that a bit of homelessness law in the Court of Appeal? Don't answer that. Anyway, on to Ali & Ibrahim v Birmingham City Council [2008] EWCA 1228. Two joined appeals, one on behalf of Ms Ali...
Housing and Human Rights: Kay in the ECtHR
From the Garden Court bulletin: The ECtHR has invited the observations of the UK government on the application made by Mr Kay to the ECtHR, following his defeat in the House of Lords in Kay v LB Lambeth [2006] UKHL 10. The Court has asked for...
Rough Sleepers, Rough Justice
R (RJM) (FC) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2008] UKHL 63 This House of Lords judgment is now just under two weeks old, but I think it is still worthy of comment here. It is a discrimination case dealing with benefits and rough...
ASBOs for all!
Birmingham City Council v (1) Shafi (2) Ellis [2008] EWCA Civ 1186 This is a complicated case, focusing much more on local government law than on housing law per se, but there are some significant implications for housing lawyers. We've already had...
Varying an ASBO – an (un)appealing option
We here at NL still haven't decided how much ASB law to cover on the blog. On the one hand, only possession proceedings and s.153A-E Housing Act 1996 injunctions could be said to be 'true' housing law. But, on the other, ASB remedies are, to a very...
Deposits – another County Court decision
Tessa Shepperson at Landlord Law has a report from a landlord's solicitor on another tenancy deposit case in the County Court, this time Bedford County Court. In short, the Court found that payment of the deposit and provision of the required...
On ramps and suitability
Boreh v London Borough of Ealing [2008] EWCA Civ 1176 was an appeal from a s.204 appeal of a s.202 review that upheld a finding that a property offered in discharge of s.192(3) duty was suitable. Mrs Boreh was owed the full housing duty by Ealing....
Manchester CC v Moran – Lords appeal
One of Nearly Legal's band of information elves (sorry H) brings news that Sharon Moran in Manchester City Council v Moran [2008] EWHC Civ 378 has been given leave to appeal to the Lords. This was the important Court of Appeal case on women's...
Trying to avoid Council Tax liability by not being a tenant
In what might be described as an audacious, or perhaps foolhardy, appeal from the Valuation Tribunal, Mr Jackson sought to challenge his liability to pay Council Tax in Jackson v Cambridge City Council [2008] EWHC 2529 (Admin). Normally, this...