As we noted here, the Government's new Equality Bill brings together various bits of anti-discrimination legislation and extends some of them. One area that is extended is protection against age discrimination, which is now covered by Part 3, in respect of...
Straws in the wind
Yesiloz v London Borough of Southwark [2009] EWCA Civ 415 was concerned with whether a Turkish asylum seeker was entitled to housing benefit. Ms Yesiloz arrived in the UK in the late 1990s and claimed asylum. She moved into premises in Camden and claimed HB...
House of Lords newsflash
The House of Lords has today given its judgment in the case of R (G) v Southwark [2009] UKHL 26. We reported the Court of Appeal decision here. A fuller report will follow on Nearly Legal in due course, but as we may not finish it today the headlines are:...
The Equality Bill
A new Equality Bill was a flagship manifesto commitment and it was finally published at the end of April. The Bill receives its second reading in the House of Commons today. While the Bill is primarily consolidating and tidying up existing law there are...
Duty to provide rent-free accommodation?
R (Best) v Oxford City Council [2009] EWHC 608 (Admin), [2009] All ER (D) 252, noted on this week's Garden Court Housing Law Bulletin, but not yet on BAILII. This is a judicial review that essentially turned on whether a local housing authority has a duty...
How not to carry out a child in need assessment
R (MM) v LB of Lewisham [2009] EWHC 416 (Admin) Slapped wrists all round for Lewisham's Children's Social Care Services in another Children Act 1989 "child in need" case, but in this case the issue was not whether the claimant was a child, but whether she...
Do not pass Go
Cambridge City Council v Joyce No link for this one, but it was noted on Lawtel this morning and has been reported as [2009] All ER (D) 234 (Feb). Mr Joyce was a secure tenant of one of Cambridge's properties. His tenancy contained conditions not to harass...
Housing waiting lists in Parliament
Yesterday the House of Commons debated a Conservative Party motion on housing waiting lists: That this House notes that social housing waiting lists have increased to a record 1.8 million families, over 4.5 million people, over the last 12 months; recognises...
Protection from repossession
Andrew Dismore MP (he of Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights fame) has introduced a ten minute rule bill entitled 'Home Repossession (Protection) Bill'. In his own words, the Bill will: amend the Law of Property Act 1925 to require a mortgagee to...
Evictions and Proportionality
We're a bit late with this one, and it is arguably quite a biggie (hat tip to Niki Goss who first pointed it out, to me at least, in the comments here). Anyway, Cosic v Croatia is a decision of the European Court of Human Rights that should be of interest as...
Scotland's homelessness advance warning system
News of a change from over the border. From 1st April landlords will have to notify the local authority in a standard form when they raise proceedings for possession. This will give effect to s. 11 of the Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003. Notice can...
Man or boy?
"That is the question, easy to ask but not so easy to answer" - as it takes the Court of Appeal 40 pages (right before Christmas, thank you very much, hence this rather late note) to answer that question in R (A) v LB Croydon; R (M) v LB Lambeth [2008] EWCA...