Started on Doherty, but on closer inspection, the Lords have also given me R (On The Application of M) (Fc) V Slough Borough Council and R (On The Application of Heffernan) (Fc) V The Rent Service to deal with, and possibly also Yeoman’s Row Management Limited and Another V Cobbe. All here.
Damn them, damn, damn, damn. Thankfully, the Court of Appeal held off handing down anything of interest – for here at least.
You forgot
Gallagher (Valuation Officer) (Respondent) v Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints (Appellants)
I’m always getting clients in wondering about their Temple and council tax :)
The CA and HC also had made their contributions yesterday:
(a) Onwuma v LB Ealing – QBD (bringing s.11 LTA 1985 claims promptly)
(b) Birmingham CC v Lee – CA (costs in disrepair claims)
J
@J: {sighs heavily} They weren’t on Bailii. Thanks, J. Those look interesting and get bumped up the running order. I’m sorted into the weekend now. And to think that the Courts criticise us for getting things in at the last minute. Look at the end of term rush…
And expect a bumper return of cases once the new Term starts. There are two Birmingham cases (one on ASB, one on homelessness and Art. 6) which didn’t get handed down this term.
Maybe some “Phew!” and not all “Aaargh”.
Don’t folk agree that Birmingham v Lee makes sense at last, and restores tenants to a more equitable bargaining position now that their advisers can anticipate a better deal on pre-allocation costs in claims involving significant works of repair. Costs are very front-loaded in such cases. But will it encourage a fresh round of CFA funded disrepair claims, just when most large public/social landlords have disbanded/scaled down the specialist teams they had set up to deal with the rush early in the decade? It took a while, but as the CA hint, these bodies realised that if they did the repairs quickly (and sometimes too quickly), they could make Small Claims allocation in some areas a near certainty, and either cause the CLS to pull the plug or the CFA funder to lose heart. It’s also been a long while since I saw a CLS funded pure disrepair claim against an LHA or RSL.
I hope they don’t come back into fashion, because it had all got rather boring. But I wonder why the Council decided to appeal Judge MacDuff – there was so much potentially for them to lose? Tsk, Councils, eh?
Post on Birmingham v Lee just coming up. Good decision.
It’s been a long while since you’ve seen a pure CLS funded disrepair claim? Blimey. Where are you? I’m looking at shelving and cabinets holding over 100 of the things every workday.